


Sentiment is a Sin

by WinterAngel24



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Gen, Reader Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-02
Updated: 2013-10-01
Packaged: 2017-12-10 04:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/781771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterAngel24/pseuds/WinterAngel24
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You didn't know why you were going along with this. No wait. Yes you did. It was favor. A favor to that stupid conceited Reborn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Target 1

**Author's Note:**

> FanFiction dot net was giving me trouble, so I'm going to move a few of my stories over here. Hopefully people will be able to enjoy them and I can finally get a place to improve my work without fear of harrassment from self-appointed police.

You didn't know why you were going along with this. No wait. Yes you did. It was favor. A favor to that stupid conceited Reborn.

You sigh.

Still…this was going to be a pain. But no one refused to fulfill a favor to Reborn. _No one_. No matter how small the favor, you always had to be sure to return what you owed. This only made you more pissed off at yourself, because all you had asked to borrow for moment was a stupid pen. The moment the other teen had placed the small utensil you in hand and said the words "you owe me" with his irritating smirk, you knew that you were going to be in for it later.

You sigh again and step out of the car, looking up at the apartment complex you would now be residing most of the time until further notice. The jerk hadn't told you if you were staying in the apartment as well or if it was just your temporary charge's home, but either way you were pretty much stuck there full time.

"Let's get going."

You refrain from grimacing and turn to follow your fellow student, who had just climbed out the other side of the car. ' _Were teenagers allowed to drive in Japan?_ ' You briefly wonder, but you shake your head and set those thoughts aside so that you could focus more on the task at hand.

"Care to explain why two hitmen are now walking casually through the small town of Namimori, Japan?" You asked, not really trying to hide the irritation in your tone.

The idiot smirks, causing you to grind your teeth in frustration. "We're here to meet and babysit the potential Vongola Decimo candidate. Well, two candidates, but everyone is sure that the older one is a shoe in for the position. They say that he is the second coming or reincarnation of Vongola Primo himself."

You grimace. "Then it's even worse that _both_ of us are here."

"Not unless _one_ of us was unable to hide their trail properly," the irritating punk nearly sings in a condescending tone.

You click you tongue in annoyance. "I'm more worried that _you_ forgot to erase something. You're still a little wet behind the ears with that sort of stuff after all."

It was your turn to smirk this time, watching the slightly older teen press his lips together.

"Reborn," you say seriously. Stopping you your tracks after exiting the elevator and before the two of you could proceed any further down the hall. "Why did you call me here to help you babysit two kids? Vongola Decimo candidates or not, they don't need two hitmen here for them. You and I both know that one of us would be more than enough for this job. And being Nono's soon to be personal hitman, you should be the only one here. So why was I asked to come along?"

Reborn studies you under an intense gaze, but you don't falter. You aren't afraid of him as much as everyone else, that's probably why he tries to piss you off so much, but you won't focus on that thought for now. "I'll be training both of them, but I want to focus on them individually. Nono asked me to focus most of my time on the older sibling, so I want to make sure the younger one is looked after in case I'm too far to reach him."

"But that is not your entire reason," you state. You've known Reborn for at least five years now. You can read through him pretty well, not all the time, but enough to get you by.

The raven haired teen seems to ponder a bit, as if trying to decide whether or not he wanted to voice his other reasoning. "Perhaps another time. For now we should get going. Nana and that idiota bionda is waiting."

You groan. You _really_ didn't want to see that irritating asshole here. "Wasn't he back at the CEDEF headquarters? Why the hell is he here now?"

Reborn grimaced as well. "Probably to introduce you to the family and to get in some blubbering about his two kids and wife."

"I think I'd rather get shot again," you gripe. You could honestly say that you preferred the pain of getting shot of the blond idiot's insistent cooing. But you huff and continue to follow your fellow student.

You lean against the wall, facing the door that Reborn was reaching to knock on. You cross your arms, position a heal against the wall, and close your eyes. You need to put up a calming barrier, or risk killing everyone living on this floor due to your attempt to rid the world of an idiot.

"It seems Reborn-kun and Birdy-chan has finally arrived!" A loud and irritating voice practically yelled with a hearty laugh.

' _A professional doesn't try to kill their employers just because of a stupid nickname! A professional doesn't try to kill their employers just because of a stupid nickname! A professional doesn't try to kill their employers just because of a stupid nickname!_ ' You chant through your head furiously, fully aware that a dark shadow has crossed over your eyes. Your fury increased when you catch Reborn snickering from the corner of your eyes.

Iemitsu continued to smile toothily with his hands on his hips. "But I must say I'm surprised. I didn't expect the Nightingale to tag along as well."

You suppress the urge to groan again. You hated it when people called you that. You sang during one mission, then boom! All the sudden people think that's your signature. Actually, you hadn't even sung anything, you hummed!

"I believe the correct name would be the Mockingbird," Reborn corrected for you, though you don't know why. He'll probably just take advantage of helping you later. Or maybe right now, considering how wide his smirk is. "Though, I think chameleon would be a better title. Then again, it would be an insult to my partner to compare a person with such weak disguises to him."

The little green lizard flicked his tongue out, almost as if to punctuate his master's sentence. Though you know better. You and Leon get along pretty well, especially compared to your relationship with the reptilian's master.

You roll your eyes at the other teen. You were perfectly adept at blending into the environment and becoming the character you needed to be to finish a job. And you were quite good at it too.

"Honey, are you going to make our guests stand out there forever?" A female voice calls out from behind the large Italian man. She pushes the man aside and smiles at you and the other teen. "Please come in!"

Iemitsu rubs the back of his head abashedly, and stands fully aside so that you and Reborn could enter the home.

"Sorry to intrude," you mutter, knowing that it was a Japanese custom and how one was supposed to be polite. You pull off your shoes and follow after Reborn and the external advisor into the living room.

Iemitsu's smile grows when he sees his family waiting together to greet the guests. "Birdy-" you were really going to kill him if he kept that up, "chan, I'd like you to meet my two adorable sons; Giotto and Tsunayoshi!" He held a hand out to each respective boy. He placed a loving arm around his wife. "And this absolutely gorgeous woman is my amazingly wonderful wife, the adorable and beautiful Nana."

You resisted the urge to make a gagging motion, though you can tell that Reborn was facing a similar dilemma. Neither of you were really into the whole romance shindig. A gun fight or any hit mission was much more enthralling.

You turn your attention to the two younger boys while Reborn greeted the older woman. The blond one, Giotto, was ten years old and had blue cerulean eyes. He stood slightly in front of the younger boy, who was hiding behind his mother's leg, as if trying to protect him from any potential threat. Giotto was glaring lightly at the two of you, but he didn't seem very harmful. You could sense plenty of arrogance from the older boy and a great deal of other things you wouldn't let yourself to consider. You were an outsider after all, only staying here for maybe a few weeks then heading on your way, never to see them again.

You turn your attention toward the younger child, Tsunayoshi, who flinched a little under your unemotional gaze. The first thing you think is that you are going to shorten the name into something more manageable and fitting for the boy; Tsuna should work. Tsuna had brown hair and eyes like his mother, and was about the age of five. You nod to yourself. Good. Their ages were set five and ten years apart from yours respectively. That made things easier to remember. You soften your gaze. Tsunayoshi had a very pure and caring aura. You decided that you wouldn't mind watching over him after all.

The young brunette seemed to be able to sense your gaze softening considerably, because he gathers up his courage and walks over to you. He stands before you fiddling with his hands a little and smiling up shyly. You kneel on one leg so that he doesn't have to look up, to which his smile widens a little more, as does his blush. The two of you ignore the older brother coming over and taking up the younger one's hand in an act to protect and comfort. "Papa told you my name, but you can call me Tsu-kun if you want."

Never had you encountered a kid that you actually wanted to hug the stuffing out of before, but this kid was just so…cuddly looking. You settle with a small rare smile, ruffling the youngster's hair. "I have a lot of names, but I suppose you can call me JJ."

"Are you like Reborn?" Tsuna asks curiously. You raise an eyebrow, encouraging the boy to expand his question so that you could better understand. "Mama and Papa told me that Reborn is my godfather. So are you like that too?"

Reborn…Godfather… _Reborn_ … _Godfather_ …

You turn toward the other hitman so that the younger ones and Nana couldn't see you Cheshire cat like smile. Your pleasure increases when you detect the trace amount of pink in the other teen's cheeks. Oh~ how you were going to take advantage of this one day. But not now. You could wait patiently, and then strike when the time was right.

You tone your smile back to zero and turn back to the waiting child. "No. I'm just here to visit since Reborn wanted me to meet you two." You cackle evilly in the back of your head. This wasn't completely a lie anymore. Reborn _had_ forced you to come so that you could look after one of the two, ergo _meet_ them.

"Then, can I call you Onee-chan?" Tsuna asked hopefully, completely oblivious to Reborn and yours battle of wills.

Another small smile falls through your usually emotionless mask and you nod. Tsuna cheers and tries to hug you, but fails with his brother still clamped onto his hand.

"Welcome to the family then," Nana says warmly. "You can call me mama like Reborn too if you want!"

Mama…mother…That word doesn't fit well with you. Just like Reborn, parents and you don't work very well. He must really like Nana if he's willing to call her with that title, or he is just extremely dedicated to his role. You smile politely to the older woman. "That's okay, Sawada-san."

"Then at least call me Nana! Sawada-san makes me feel old!" The woman pushes.

"Alright then, Nana-san-" You start.

"Nana!" The other interrupts.

"Nana," you amend. "Thank you for having me."

"Where are you staying?" The woman asked conversationally, directing the group toward the kitchen.

"Well, I was planning to-" You start, only to be interrupted again.

"She should stay with us, mama," Reborn cuts in, accepting a cup of tea. "Then she can play with Tsuna while I'm tutoring Giotto."

Your eye twitches. Stupid Reborn was making decisions without consulting you again.

But Nana is oblivious and claps her hands together. "That would be wonderful! I've always wanted a daughter!"

"Ah." This situation is getting out of your hands now and it didn't look like the woman would listen to you even if you tried. You sigh and rub your temples. This was troublesome. You didn't want to be inducted into the family like this. You were supposed to remain a stranger, so that when you left there would be nothing left behind. You feel a tug on your sleeve an look over to see an expectant brunette looking up, having gotten up from his seat in front of you (Giotto seemed to have labeled Reborn as a greater threat towards his brother, which was slightly insulting).

"Will you really be staying with us?" The small brunette asks hopefully.

You could practically feel all the fight drain out of you with that one look. Those eyes were dangerous. You make a note to avoid making direct eye contact from now on. You try not to let your irritation take over when you see Reborn smirk through your peripheral vision and sighed a little. You couldn't stop another small smile from showing through. "Only if you want me too and if it's alright with your parents."

You watch in amusement as the young boy runs over and begs his father to let you stay. But this boy was emotionally taxing. If you weren't careful, then you'd get caught in his net and be unable to leave.

"So what do you do exactly?" The blond asks suspiciously, while the other members of his family were distracted.

"I try to find new ways to avoid or get payback on Reborn," you reply sarcastically.

"Only to succeed 50% of the time," the other teen chortles, to which you roll your eyes and ignore.

"I mean seriously," the blond huffs. You can tell that he is unhappy that you are treating him like a child.

"Kid," you honestly don't care that he doesn't like the nickname, as he certainly was a child, "I'm only 15, _what_ could I possibly do right now."

"Reborn told me that he already had a job and that you did too, but he didn't say what," Giotto told you.

You raised an eyebrow and rolled your eyes. "Fine, then I'm whatever he is." You jab your thumb at the other teen.

The young blonde's eyes widen dramatically. "You're an assassin too?"

You deadpan and try to slap the back of the other hitman's head, but fail. "What type of idiot goes around telling kids that?"

"You scold me for lying, now your scold me for merely telling him the truth. Make up your mind you bipolar trainee," Reborn scoffs.

"What was that you rookie?" You growl.

"You heard me short stop," Reborn sneered.

Ooh. That was harsh. Reborn knew that you were a _little_ sensitive about your height. So you were a little short. It didn't help that the stupid jerk had hit a growth spurt last month. You grind your teeth in irritation and glare at the insensitive teen. "Like you could talk…curly top."

Now Reborn was glaring at you as well.

Looks like this favor was going to be tough after all.


	2. Target 2

You sat and watched Tsuna play around with his blocks in amusement. For some reason the young brunette had wanted to sit on your lap, so you had agreed and seated yourself against the back of the couch so that you had something to lean against while the boy way playing. You had stretched your legs out so that they were like a triangle, going around the small brunette like a protective barrier, yet the lack of a third side kept the barrier from becoming a jail cell. Protection with freedom to move around as he pleased, as it should be when looking after a young child.

Tsunayoshi had his back against you and was playing with a happy little smile. His older brother had been kicked out of the apartment, quite literally, earlier that morning by Reborn so that they could go train. Reborn had told you to explain everything to Tsunayoshi during the time they were away.

A vein pops on your temple when you remember the other teen ordering you around. ' _That jerk. He left me with the one that's more likely to cry from learning the truth._ ' You sigh wearily, crossing your legs and shifting the small boy so that he was sitting on your lap. Tsuna keeps playing with his blocks, happy that you didn't push him away. At least that's what you could read from his aura.

That was your unique talent, the ability to read someone through their auras. Even before you were taught how to read body language, expressions, etc., you were able to figure out what others were thinking. That's also why you stayed so emotionless most of the time, allowing your voice to speak your expressions for you. You didn't want people to be able to read you as well. But reading the auras of others was also very suffocating. Many are unable to hide their emotions and the stronger ones permeate the air in a small room in a matter of seconds, making it nearly impossible to breathe properly. If you cut out your own emotions, then it becomes like a thin barrier and makes it easier for you to bear the presence of others. On top of that, the lack of emotions physically portrayed also helped you during your jobs. It wasn't long till you came to think that hiding your emotions was as simple as eating or drinking.

That was until your teacher picked up another student. That student, who took on the name Reborn and never gave you his real name, seemed to make it his goal in life to make you show as many expressions as possible, even if they were just looks of irritation. But even though Reborn started after you, well as far as you knew anyways, he caught up and surpassed you in no time. He truly was a gifted hitman, a genius if you must. Neither of you told each other your backgrounds, but you seemed to be able to read each other quite well despite that.

You break out of your thoughts when you notice the young brunette's bright and cheery aura diming.

"Is Gio-nii training for something really big and dangerous?" Tsunayoshi asks slowly.

You debate whether or not to put your arms around the boy. It's supposed to be a sign of comfort, but you're not really used to giving out a sense of security to others. You settle with placing a hand on top of the boy's head instead. "Tsuna, did Reborn tell you about your ancestors?"

"No. Reborn didn't say anything. What are ancestors?" The young boy questions, confusion evidently laced in his tone. He twists around so that he can look at you, his toys forgotten.

"Ancestors are the people in your family who lived before you. Some were born a long, long time ago." You tried to explain as simply as you could. You waited for the boy to absorb this new piece of knowledge completely before continuing. "Your great, great, great, great grandpa was a really big mafia boss. He was called Vongola Primo and he made it so that the Vongola Family's new boss could only become the head of the family if they were of his bloodline, that way he could prevent bad outsiders from taking over. Vongola Primo actually started out as a vigilante group, people who were going to protect others from bad guys, before they ended up becoming a part of the mafia. But even then, they only used their power to protect. You and your big brother are the youngest members of that bloodline, so you two are his great, great, great, great grandsons. Do you know what this means?"

Tsuna scrunched up his face in thought as he tried to process everything. "Is Gio-nii going to be the next boss?"

You nod and ruffle the boy's hair. "You're correct."

"Then what about me?" The young brunette inquires.

"You can help him if you wish or you can lead a perfectly normal life," you tell the boy. You decide to leave out that the Vongola didn't become stained in blood until after Vongola Primo. The boy would no doubt feel saddened and worried by that news.

"Then what does that make you and Reborn?" The young brunette asks curiously.

You hesitate. For some reason you're afraid to tell the little boy the truth. There is a good chance that he'll become afraid of you if you were to tell him the truth. But as you gaze into his eyes, you are able to see a soul much like the open sky, willing to embrace all. "Reborn and I are hitmen. Our line of work is assassination. Reborn works as Vongola Nono's personal assassin, while I work as a freelance."

Your eyebrows shoot up and your eyes widen in shock when the little boy stands up and hugs you around your neck. "That must be a really tough and scary job. I'm sorry," the boy mumbles into the crook of your neck.

You blink, still in shock before slowly raising your arms and hugging the small boy. "Foolish child, there is no reason for you to apologize."

You are glad that Reborn isn't around right now, or else he would have surely made fun of the smile plastered on your face.

 

* * *

"You shouldn't have pushed him so hard," you reprimanded Reborn tiredly as you clean another of the many wounds on the young blonde's body.

"He nearly killed me!" Giotto complains to you loudly. You suppose that he has decided to accept you for now because you were able to keep his brother happy, you chastised Reborn, and you were bandaging his wounds as gently and pain free as you could.

"Don't move," you scold the oldest child lightly, who kept squirming. Ten year olds had way more energy than you were willing to contend with, yet this boy had nothing but complaints the moment he entered through the main door. You briefly wonder if some of these injuries came from Reborn's attempt to make the blond shut up. You wouldn't put it past the other hitman…No, you don't have to wonder. You're positive that, that's exactly what the other teen did. You desist from sighing for the umpteenth time.

"He was completely pathetic," Reborn rebutted your telling-off. "I had higher expectations for him, but he could barely run five yards without complaining."

"So how long did he have to run total?" You ask, then you remember that this was Reborn, so there was probably something else in that training. "And what was chasing after Giotto."

"He only ran three miles with only a bulldog chasing after him to increase his overall output," Reborn defended himself.

You shake your head. "Not everyone is a genius like you Reborn. Three miles is a great deal for a child of ten, who has only ever participated in regular school athletics."

"You manage just fine," Reborn argues easily.

" _I_  have been training since birth," you rebuke. You sigh and stand after putting the last bandage in place. You make a mental note to visit the child while he was sleeping so that you could heal a few of his wounds with your flames. But you'd probably have to do so without Reborn finding out, or he would undeniably increase Giotto's training requirement and probably make you train as well.

Though you loathed to admit it, both you and Reborn shared a similar flame attribute. But you also had a secondary, the mist flame. It took less energy to use your mist flames to hide something. So when you went on missions and got injured, you healed the more serious wounds, then hide the rest so that you would appear uninjured. However, you noticed that it didn't take as much energy to heal other people's wounds. Maybe it was fates way of cursing you and preventing you from being successfully selfish with your ability.

"Are you okay, Gio-nii?" Tsuna asked hesitantly, peeking out from his hiding spot behind you.

"I'm perfectly okay!" The blond boasts to his little brother. "I'm always strong enough to protect you, Tsu-kun!"

You refrain from frowning, both from the amount of possessiveness the two older boys radiated as well as the words Reborn was surely about to voice.

"If that's the case, then tomorrow you can run five miles and complete the entire workout regimen I made for you," the hitman says with a smirk.

"What! But you had a hundred each of sit ups, pushups, and other crazy exercises on that list!" The younger blond complains.

You take a deep breath and excuse yourself, leaving the room with Tsuna's hand in your own. You were fully aware of the other hitman's gaze watching the two of you steadily as both of you leave, but you ignored it and focused on keeping the young brunette from tripping over himself. You found out today that the youngest child was in fact very clumsy. You wanted to take the young one away from the other room, which was filled to the brim with the older two males' suffocating aura of possessiveness. It was making you sick it was so strong. And it was so horribly similar…

The amount of control that they were trying to exercise over the young brunette troubled you greatly. They were trying to cage this small sky like a young bird that had yet to learn of the world. From what you could tell from reading their auras, at this rate young Tsunayoshi would end up like the frog that lived in a well and thought a pond was the ocean. That was…if he could ever escape.

It reminded you of your own fate, where your wings were clipped, preventing you from flying away from your cage. The nightingale stuck to only sing to its master. It terrified you, causing you to start shivering unconsciously. You nearly jump when you feel a tug on your pants. But when you look down, you immediately calm down, seeing only the youngest brunette.

"Yes?" You ask him, all traces of your fear hidden away once more.

"Are you okay JJ-nee?" Tsuna inquires, concern etched all over his face and voice.

You crouch down so that the two of you could talk at an even height. "Yes. Why would you think something was wrong?"

"Nee-chan is feeling very scared of something," the young boy told you. "Can Tsu-kun help?"

You blink in surprise. "What makes you think that?"

"Tsu-kun gets this feeling in his tummy sometimes," the little brunette pointed to his abdomen, "and this feeling tells Tsu-kun about others. So can Tsu-kun help?"

You ruffle the boy's hair and smile a little. "You just did. Thank you."

"But Tsu-kun didn't do anything!" The little boy protested, thinking that you weren't taking him seriously because of his age.

You shake your head, smile still in place. "You helped me because you showed me that you were worried for my well. So thank you, Tsu-kun, for caring."

Was the potential of getting caught in another net supposed to feel so inviting?


	3. Target 3

You were torn between being very, very pissed off and slightly/barely happy. It has now been nearly a whole year since you started this 'favor' for Reborn. By now you have tried plenty of times to leave, but Reborn always seemed to be around during an attempt and then he would find a way to sneak one of the Sawada's over to 'checkup' on you and make sure everything was okay. It made your blood boil how that jerk, who was only two years older than you, was able to outmaneuver you every time. You were a professional hitman (well hit woman) too, dammit!

What made it worse was that during one of his visits, Iemitsu would act all 'sympathetic' saying that Reborn was called the strongest hitman in the world, so it was to be expected that you couldn't beat him. You had punched the man square in the jaw, then in the stomach that same day. Actually…Other than the older blonde's stupid condescending remark, that was actually a really good day. You had gotten to vent a lot of pent up anger (accumulated mostly thanks to Reborn) on some pathetic wannabe hitmen and other assassins, and Tsuna had drawn a picture of a lion for you during his class in preschool…Yeah, good day…

That year there had also been the issue of birthdays. While Reborn was  _completely_  fine with  _everyone_  knowing when his birthday was, you just wanted the anniversary of your birth to pass over as any other day, if not a little faster than others. But for Reborn's birthday, you made sure to dress in black, complete with a dark veil. It was a day for mourning the birth of a sadistic demon. You had given him a bouquet of white lilies (also part of your 'mourning') and a newly designed glock from the subcompact: Slim line series G36 and a new gun cleaning kit (you knew he needed to restock soon anyways, so why not get it before he does so that you don't have to think too much about what to get him as a gift). He seemed pleased enough with the presents, never one for frivolous things or knickknacks that would only collect dust.

The next day you had worn a light orange dress shirt, it was Tsuna's favorite one out of your wardrobe of multi colored dress shirts and suits, and made sure that your gift to the young boy was wrapped in orange as well. You had gotten him a mini stuffed lion wearing a custom built helmet, that Tsuna had actually designed (albeit sloppily seeing as he was just a kid) in the drawing he had made for you. Actually, the whole lion was custom made for the boy, but you couldn't tell him that or he would definitely fret about you spending too much money, which was silly since you had more than enough. You had also pulled him out of school early (that way Giotto and Reborn couldn't come along, though they were unhappy when they found out later) and treated the younger boy to a movie and ice cream.

For Giotto's birthday you managed to get Reborn to give the boy a day off by calling up Nono and requesting that he either ordered Reborn to take a day of rest or to go off on some mission to god knows where. You will probably have to pay for that eventually, but at least the blond had been able to enjoy the day with all his friends and family. Giotto had been extremely thankful and had even hugged you (you were a little suspicious about the slight reddening of his cheeks, but then Reborn had said something that drew your attention away before you could inspect any further). Your other gift to him was actually a set of seven custom made dog tags. One side had the inscription:  _To my family, a vow to protect. To my nakama, a vow of eternal friendship._  The other side had a corresponding flame to their position as guardian, Giotto of course receiving the tag with the orange flame, his friend G with a red flame, and so on. What you didn't tell them was that the flame was made out of an actual gem (ex. Giotto got an imperial orange topaz).

For Nana's birthday and anniversary, you combined the two as one big gift of her taking a whole week with her husband on some trip. It had taken a lot of blackmailing and threatening the idiot outside advisor on your part, but Nana's expression had been worth it. Somehow the woman knew that the vacation was your doing because when she came back, she brought you several gifts you would probably never use and had demanded to know when your birthday was.

This had a domino effect of having both Tsuna and Giotto get on your case as well. It seemed that your excuse of 'it'll come around eventually' had passed its expiration date and now they weren't going to take any other excuse for an answer. When you told them that you really didn't want to celebrate your birthday and you didn't mind not getting any gifts or the like, they had adamantly refused saying that they wanted to celebrate the day that someone as wonderful as you had come into the world, much to your chagrin. They said they also wanted to thank you for everything that you had done.

Reborn had only worsened matters (purposely you might add) by telling the others that he had already given his gift to you, which wasn't untrue. He had gotten you a new pair of arm guards (having broken your old ones by 'accident'), as well as a pendant made of topaz and with the kanji 'hope' inscribed, that was hung on a silver chain. You weren't really into jewelry, but the sentiment was nice enough so you kept it in its box somewhere safe.

The trio had then begged him to tell them when your birthday was, but Reborn had 'sadly promised' that he had sworn not to give away your secret and that it was up to you whether or not you wanted others to know. But his knowledge of the date of your birthday was completely by mistake. He had found out by accident during one of your joint training missions. It was actually the only demand of yours that he actually followed through with and had told no one of his findings, not even your teacher. The day of your birth would only darken the day. It would be better for them to let that cursed day pass like any other. But the three were persistent. Finally after an exceptionally painful, sparkly, and teary set of puppy eyes from Tsuna, you caved a little and told the group that you really didn't like that day and that it only brought back bad memories for you.

You had hoped that they would leave you alone after that, but they then decided to celebrate the day they first met you, which brings you back around to being torn between opposing emotions. While you were happy that Tsunayoshi was so excited, it was amusing to see him try to hide his present for you when it was clearly seen from behind his back, you were also irritated that Iemitsu had decided to come back for this occasion. That and Reborn was all smiles/smirks today. That hitman should be thanking the gods that his youngest godson was in the room, otherwise you would have been attempting to maul his sorry ass along with the CEDEF leader's right about now.

You huff wearily and walk over to the outside porch in hopes of catching a few Z's, but the moment you start to relax into the floorboards, your senses went haywire and you shot up. In a blink of an eye you were down the street with safety on your gun clicked off. You know for sure that Reborn saw you leave and was now on high alert as well. He and Iemitsu would surely stay behind and watch over the other three while you took care of the situation.

Though…you weren't really sure what type of situation it was. Your senses went on high alert, yes. But you didn't feel any threatening presences or auras. It actually felt like someone was calling out to you. But that couldn't be…right?

You become uneasy when you reach the edge of the forest. Normally in all those movies, following some unknown force into a dark forest tended to end very badly for said person. You sweat drop. You had been laying around in a normal civilian life for way to long if those sorts of thoughts were entering your head during these types of moments. You shook your head lightly and followed the traces of an unknown presence inside. You stick to the shadows of the trees, moving up into the branches when you neared the source. You frown at the single pregnant woman garbed in a white dress with orange lining her frame, and a big poofy hat. This is where the signal is coming from, but surely you had to be wrong.

"I know you're there," the woman calls out softly. She turns around and you can see a pink five petal flower right below her left eye. "Why don't you come out? I mean you no harm."

You look around before easing out of the shadows and stepping into the light. "You were the one who called me…why?"

The woman smiles warmly. "You are correct. I called you. My name is Luce."

"Luce?" You asked, raising an eyebrow to show skepticism. "As in Luce, the boss of the Giglio Nero? And holder of the sky mare ring?"

The woman nods. "That would be correct."

You rub your eyes with a hand, the other one supporting your elbow. "My brain must have finally busted. I bet it's all Reborn's fault."

"Oh? What do you feel about Reborn?" Luce asked.

"He's annoying," you growl. "He's a cocky, over confident, arrogant, pain in the ass; and I don't like him."

"Don't like? Do you hate him?"

You wave the woman's question away. "Hate is a strong word. And I don't use strong words unless I mean them with all my heart."

Luce nods with a warm smile. You begin to wonder why though, it's not like you complimented the irritating bastard. "Do you mind if I ask a favor of you."

"Ugh. No more favors please," you groan, pressing a hand over your eyes again.

Luce chuckled. "I just want to ask you to keep an extra careful eye on one of the skies you already watch over."

You look up with a slight frown. "What do you mean?"

"There is a pure and wonderful sky flame, but it is also very fragile and will be easily snuffed out by a strong sun flame and another sky flame." Luce says this to you gravely, her eyes and aura speaking nothing but grief to you.

Out of curiosity and to try to get a better reading of the woman before you, you start to lower your barrier, but you clutch you head as an on slaughter of pain attacks you. It hurts so much, but you manage to keep yourself from falling to the ground. This woman's aura held so many clashing emotions of great pain and sorrow, but also great happiness. You look up again when you finally have a handle on your control again, panting a little. "You see the future, don't you?"

The older woman smiles apologetically. "I apologize for that. I should have warned you what would have happened if you tried to lower your barrier to get a better feel of my aura…but yes, I do. However, the future isn't set in stone."

"The pure flame is from Tsuna, isn't it?" You asked, only to sigh when the other woman nods in confirmation. You push yourself into an upright position again. You refuse to show any weakness, especially in front of a mafia boss. "I was already able to calculate that much during the first time I was alone with the little one and then when I placed him together with Reborn and Giotto. It was like trying to breath through a wet rag, their aura was so oppressive. But I think you should find someone else for the job. I'm only here for a short period of time, not forever. But I shall agree to look after Tsuna until you have someone else more suitable to a long term protection aid."

Luce sighed and stared at you with troubled, but knowing eyes. "That will have to make do for now." There was a flash of light and the woman disappears. Only a whisper of her plea that you speak of this to no one was left behind.

You star at the spot where the other had stood moments before. You wanted to help, really you did. But you were just a stranger and this wasn't your battle to wage. Your favor would be over to Reborn soon and then you would return to your normal life. And that life was way too dangerous for those kids.

No.

You would not allow yourself to get attached. You were a professional assassin, a hit woman. You couldn't afford a weakness like a child would undoubtedly bring.

This was just a favor, and favors were just like a binding contract. You only gave until you fulfilled the terms of completion, then you were supposed to go on your way without ever looking back.

You feel something running down to your lip, so you reach up and press a finger under your nose and retract your hand. You blink, unsure how to feel about the blood clinging to your finger. Was a nosebleed supposed to be a sign that bad things were to come if you didn't take the proper actions? But how could the future of this family possibly affect you?


	4. Target 4

You sigh and pinch your nose, heading back to the apartment complex, taking out a handkerchief to try to clean up a little and catch the blood that was escaping your hold. That idiot Reborn is the one who answers the door when you finally make it back. You glare at the other teen as you press a cloth over your nose. Now that you think of it, that nosebleed was probably caused by that headache you had earlier. You narrow your eyes as you think about what Luce had told you, but you only succeed in making yourself even more pissed off than before.

"This is all  _your_  damn fault," you tell the hitman.

Reborn raises an eyebrow. "And how is that? I'm pretty sure if I went, then I would have come back perfectly fine." He leads you over to the bathroom so that you can take care of all the blood before the others see.

You click your tongue in irritation. "Of course you would, you don't have a handicap weighing you down. And apparently, telling you would solve nothing. Now I've gotten stuck with fulfilling another stupid request."

Reborn frowned a miniscule amount, but you were more than capable of seeing it. "So you didn't get into a fight. Then how'd you get the nosebleed?"

"The person's aura was all over the place, gave me a god damn headache." You were in a really,  _really_  bad mood right now, making your swearing levels spike abnormally. "You need to really cut down your possessive, super controller, freak stuff."

You notice the other teen twitch, causing you to smirk. It was always enjoyable to push Mr. Always-Calm-and-Cool to his limits. But the smirk was short lived as another spike of pain attacks your head. You're emotional barrier was down because Reborn was around, but you really needed it up right now to protect yourself from the surrounding fluctuating auras. "Reborn, if you're not going to control your aura, can you get out?" You mutter, a hand clasped over your head.

Reborn shakes his head. You take that as his apology for not keeping his emotions in check and lean against the counter. "Reborn, what's your relationship to the kids?"

"Why, jealous?" He asks, smirking.

You raise an eyebrow at the man, but you're a little glad that he has returned to normal. "Seriously. You're a teacher and evil demon overlord to Giotto, but what about Tsuna?"

"He may not be the next Vongola boss, but he's important," Reborn tells you.

"But what is he to  _you_?" You reiterate more specifically.

"He's someone I don't want to die early."

You stare at a dot on the floor so that you can avoid looking at the other teenager. You knew that, that was Reborn talk for: Tsuna is someone I care about. Normally you would tease him for this, but after meeting Luce and confirming your suspicions, you're not sure if this was a good thing. Though, you wonder why Reborn is actually answering you truthfully rather than dodging the question, since he knows that you would usually tease him for such an answer. No, that thought was better left unanswered. You didn't want to get stuck in the conundrum that was Reborn's mind.

You pull you hand and cloth away from your face and are pleased to see that the bleeding had finally stopped. You wash away all evidence of blood on your persons and look back up to meet Reborn's steady gaze. "I'm sure you know that staring is rude, so if you have something to say, you should just spit it out already."

Reborn opens his mouth to say something, but hesitates. "Why did you ask about my relationship with Tsunayoshi?"

You almost frown. For some reason you know that, that wasn't his original question. But you answer anyways. "Your aura flows out with great strength when he's around. I ask because I want to know why you keep trying to drown me whenever the two of you are together."

Reborn nods. "I'll keep that in mind."

You shrug. "It's not anything I can't deal with. This is only a temporary thing right now in any case. As soon as my favor is repaid, I'm leaving. Anyways, we should go join the others before Nana throws a fit." You ignore and refuse to read the emotion flickering in the other hitman's eyes and walk out.

"Nee-chan! Nee-chan!"

You look up to see Tsuna running over to you with Giotto following closely behind. You almost frown as you, once again, think about Luce's request/warning. But you keep an emotionless mask on and nod to the two.

Tsuna smiles brightly. "Come on nee-chan! Mama says it's time to eat!" The little boy grabs one of your hands with two of his own and pulls.

Your eyes soften and you allow yourself to be tugged toward the kitchen.

Dinner was eventful and rather tiresome on your part. It takes a lot more energy than anyone would assume when keeping yourself from killing an irritating person. Iemitsu was loud and annoying, much to your frustration, and he kept calling you Birdy-chan. You know that if you don't make him stop soon, then Tsuna would pick it up and then it'll never leave.

Now after eating, everyone is seated around the coffee table. You are seated on the middle of the couch with Giotto and Reborn seated beside you, Tsuna had claimed your lap as his seat right after you sat down, Nana and Iemitsu were seated on the love seat across from you.

Tsuna turns around in your lap and holds up a box wrapped in yellow with a white ribbon. "Nee-chan! This is my gift to you!"

You refrain from sighing. You really didn't want any gifts, but you accept the box anyway. You pull off the ribbon and tie it around and across the small brunette's head which made him look like a mini warrior, or even a cute delinquent. The little boy laughed and reached up to feel what you had done. You half smile and unwrap the gift. Inside was seated a black bowler hat with a yellow ribbon tied around it in a bow and with the ends long enough for its ends to dangle off a good two feet. While the ribbon could become inconvenient on a job, you did like the hat. You flipped it before settling it on your head, the bow facing the back and the ribbons falling behind your head.

"How do I look?" You ask the child.

"Nee-chan looks cute and dangerous at the same time!" Tsuna tells you happily.

Even though the child's statement was a little weird, you smile and ruffle his hair with a murmured thanks.

Nana claps her hands together, drawing your attention. "You look like a cute version of Reborn-kun!"

You deadpan and tell yourself not to throw the hat away, reminding yourself that it was a gift from Tsuna. But looking anything like Reborn was the last thing you wanted.

Iemitsu laughs. "Now the two of you match!"

You and Reborn twitch. The temptation to kill the moronic blond was almost too strong to resist at this point, but Tsuna squirms in your lap a little, reminding you that showering the room in blood wouldn't do the little ones any good.

Nana and Iemitsu hands a gift to you next. It turns out be an assortment of accessories (many of which you'd rather die than even get caught wearing) as well as a kimono which was for the upcoming summer festival you supposed. But you feel several veins pop in irritation when you see the stupid thing had a bird print, Iemitsu's idea no doubt.

"We thought you would look really cute at the summer festival in that, Birdy-chan!" The blond moron laughs. "And I said we should get the one with the birds because it would match your nickname!"

' _Can't kill him! You're not allowed to kill him! Think! Tsuna and Giotto still need a father!_ ' You tell yourself, but Reborn's smirk was making it difficult to follow your thoughts through.

"Here you go JJ," Giotto jumps in, probably to prevent you from going ballistic. He hands you a small slim box. You open it to see a charm bracelet. There are already a few charms attacked, but most prominent of them was a yellow gem shaped like a rose. You thank him with a small warm smile and clip it around your wrist.

"I'm curious," you start while studying your gifts, "as to why all of you seem to enjoy giving me yellow stuff."

"Because nee-chan is so happy!" Tsuna cheers.

You deadpan. You know that most of the time, heck even now, you have a blank face clear of any emotion. So where on earth did this kid come up with that?

"Even though you don't show it, nee-chan is happy and light all the time. Nee-chan also tries really hard to make all of us feel happy and warm too!" Tsuna explains, his brother nodding in agreement.

You sigh and shake your head. What a foolish notion…but…it was nice to be accepted. You smile a little and ruffle the youngest boy's head.

"You have one last gift," Reborn says suddenly.

You look over at the other with an eyebrow slightly raised. "You already gave me something and I don't want anything else from you."

But the raven haired man shakes his head. "My gift to you is freedom. Your favor is repaid. You're free to leave."

A huge vein pops on your temple. That… _complete_ … _ASS_! He did that on purpose. You grind your teeth as you stare at his triumphant smirk.

"You're not going to leave us are you?" Tsuna pleads and hugs you.

Giotto reaches forward and grabs your arm as well. "I thought you were going to stay and help us deal with Reborn! How am I supposed to survive without someone to balance out that Spartan and help me take care of my injuries after training?" He hugs you as well, hiding his face in your shoulder.

"I don't want you to go! Please don't leave us," Tsuna cries, burying his head into the crook of your neck.

' _Death to the stupid manipulative jerk_ ,' you think to yourself. You would have your revenge for this one. You sigh and pat the top of the two desperate boys' heads. "I'm not going anywhere. Who else is going to help you pull off a prank on Reborn one of these days?"

This earns you a cheer and tackle from the kids, as well as a small scowl from Reborn. But he also seems pleased, which pisses you off. He made it near impossible for you to leave. This can turn out very badly, but you can't stay forever. You know that one of these days, your presence is going to become a hindrance to these two. Reborn can get away with it because he's earned the title of being the greatest hitman of this generation, but you're just any other hit woman. You don't scare people enough to make them stay away like Reborn can. There's also the matter that you have other missions to take care of.

You sigh internally, what are you supposed to do now?

* * *

"Sure, I can take care of it," you reply into the phone softly. You listen to the other and nod, even though they can't see you. "Yes, that's fine. I'll finish it within the next two weeks…Alright, ciao."

"A hit?"

You turn around to see Reborn leaning against your doorframe with his arms crossed, regarding you carefully.

You nod. It's not like you had anything to hide and the other would have to know about it eventually. "I hear you have a few jobs lined up too. Are you going to take care of those?"

A strange look crosses the teen's face. You're not really sure what he was thinking, it was almost like he was in a daze. But Reborn wasn't the type to become distracted by a memory or thought like that. What exactly was going on with him?

"I think I will," he finally replies. "I don't really need the money, but it'll be nice to exercise my skills."

You nod again. "Well good luck with that I suppose." You get to make sure your guns were in their holsters and pulled your hair up into a messy bun.

"You're leaving now?" Reborn inquires.

You deadpan. No~ you were just getting ready to go clubbing with your dress shirt, slacks, and guns.

Reborn smirks, like he can read your thought process, which he probably can. It's not like you were trying to hide that particular train of thought. "You aren't going to say good-bye to the kids?"

You shake your head while strapping a watch to your wrist, putting on your new hat as well. "Nah, I'll be back soon anyways."

"Want to take Leon with you?"

You chuckle. "Honestly Reborn, you're starting to sound like a worried housewife." You wink and jump out the window before you could pay for your quip. You don't bother looking back before you disappear into the night, knowing that Reborn is watching till you're completely out of sight.


	5. Target 5

You cock you gun silently and take aim. The silencer you attached mutes your shot and all that could be heard was a couple of thumps as two bodies hit the ground. But by that time you are already past their falling limp forms and moving through the mansion like a shadow. The head of the household falls just as quickly and soon you are rifling through the files, looking for the information to find your main target. There's only a little bit, but it's just enough to locate the general area of the person. And like a breath of wind you disappear from the mansion, leaving the head of the house to be discovered in the morning.

The next day finds you landing in North America and checking into a hotel under one of your many aliases. You take a day couple of days of rest and continue a few days later. You search around the underground and back alleys, gathering all the information you can get. Your reputation isn't nearly as influential as Reborn's, but you still have enough of a name to get what you need with a little 'persuasion'. You can now begin searching for the person. You narrow down your results from the information and determine that they're now situated in a small town named Portsmouth in New Hampshire.

The next morning you're stepping off a plane and heading over to the location. You break into the small office and quickly pass through the hidden door located through a small painting. The moment your feet touch the ground you are assaulted by a series of traps and droids. You shoot them down easily, reloading your gun when you dodge. You use your flexibility and slim build to your advantage, sliding underneath low set desks or using the pipes on the ceiling to flip and twist yourself out of harm's way.

You enter what you know is the main room and put away your gun, but you remain on high alert. You have a feeling that the attacks would stop if you made yourself appear defenseless…' _Don't fail me now gut._ ' One of the more advanced droids comes through the door and heads straight for you. You stare at it unblinkingly without fear. The robot abruptly shuts down mid attack and falls to the ground. You don't even give the thing a second glance as you focus your gaze on the area where another's aura could be located.

"You're pretty good, but you should have kept your weapon out. You're standing on another trap with eight lasers pointed right at you. If I had allowed them to fire, there wouldn't have been anywhere you could go." A figure steps out of the shadows, revealing a man in a lab coat pushing up his glasses.

"I know." You nod. "But I figured that all of this was just a test, since you're the type who is always trying to gather new information. Besides you were the one who agreed to exchange information with my employer. This was just part of your payment. Besides, the laser in the upper right corner isn't functioning properly. It would have given me enough maneuvering room to take out the rest and move out of the way in time." Though, if you think about it, Reborn would have been able to get around everything even if they were all functioning at 150 percent capacity. You take a Gatling gun to that thought process. Stupid Reborn. He isn't even here and he's still finding ways to piss you off.

The man smirks. "You are correct. The requirements of the exchange were for you to be able to locate me as well as get through at least my basic traps."

You nod again. It was like you had thought. "Then let's get this over with. You can call me Sora."

The man nods. "Verde."

* * *

Truly, you were pissed at Reborn right now.

"Reborn said you had left all of the sudden and he didn't think you were coming back," Tsuna wailed, tears seeping out from behind his little fists.

"How come you left without saying good bye?" Giotto demands, clearly upset but refusing to cry and let himself appear weak.

You eye twitches and you sweat drop. That idiot. He was trying to put you in all these situations on purpose. And you had even come back a whole week earlier than you planned too. You sigh internally, but kneel down in front of the crying brunette with an apathetic face. "Reborn was just teasing you. Of course I wouldn't leave without saying goodbye."

"I doubt that Qiăo would be that heartless."

You look around to your acquaintance who you met in New York before you came back. "You shouldn't sound so confident about that one. You know my nature as well as anyone, Fēng."

The martial artist smiles softly, but nods in agreement. "You tend to be even more unpredictable than the wind, Xiăo-Niăo."

Your mouth falls at a slant and you frown. "Don't call me that. I'm getting tired of all the stupid bird names."

Fēng bows a little. "My apologies, I shouldn't tease you like that."

"So who's the puppy who followed you home," Reborn asked, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, watching you calm the still crying Tsuna. He sounded a little irritated, but that could just be your jet lag talking.

"What did that guy call you?" Giotto interjects when he was finally sure that you hadn't just left and it was all just Reborn using his usual demon antics.

You gather Tsuna into your arms and stand up. "I told you I have a lot of names, didn't I?"

"But didn't he just call you hello in Italian?" Giotto presses.

You blink. "Well I guess they do sound the same. I never really thought about it though since I just automatically translate. But Fēng just called me Qiăo, it's a Chinese name meaning truthful. It's the name he gave me during our first meeting and it just stuck. Fēng's name translates to wind if you must know."

"What about the other one?" Tsuna asks curiously. He was still hiccupping but his curiosity was getting the better of him.

"What other one?" You replied with your own question in the hopes of avoiding the original question entirely.

Fēng chuckles, knowing your true aim. "I called her Xiăo-Niăo, which is a name that translates to little bird."

You exhale sharply and glare lightly at the other boy.

"Why does everyone call you a bird?" Giotto asks.

"Yeah, even papa calls you Birdy-chan," The little brunette agrees, twisting around again so that he can look at you.

"Keep squirming like that and I'll drop you," you warn the little one with a huff, adjusting the boy's position so that you had a better grip.

"It's because she's her name as an assassin is the Mockingbird," Reborn answers for you with a smirk. To which you roll your eyes and head to the kitchen instead of taking Reborn's bait. "So is there any particular reason why you allowed someone to follow you back from a mission?"

You frown a little. You didn't like what the hitman was implying. Fēng was actually one of the few people in the world that you could stand. "Fēng is a friend. We met by coincidence after I had finished with my mission and he had something to do in Japan anyways, so I invited him to travel and visit with me for a while. I also felt like he would get along with Tsuna nicely."

Reborn narrows his eyes. You're starting to find his strange behavior rather irritating.

Fēng chuckled. "You have proven to be even more guarded and yet trusting than I had originally thought, Reborn."

You blink. It was like your companion's words were moving through your brain like cement. You point at the duo. "You two already know each other?"

"We've met," Reborn said tersely, unwilling to expand his answer.

A vein pops on your temple in irritation so your redirect your attention and question to the other teenage male.

"Reborn, I, and a few others have been asked to complete a series of jobs as a group," Fēng replies cordially.

You scrunch up your face. Reborn, work together, and group were not words that you commonly associated with each other. Trying to put them in the same  _book_ together was enough to start giving you headache. You adjust Tsuna again so that you had a free hand to press to your temple in an attempt to stop the oncoming pain.

Reborn clicked his tongue. "I'm capable of working with others, you idiot."

"Pff," you press a fist to your mouth to keep yourself from laughing aloud. Reborn playing well with others was that hilarious of a concept. "Sure~ you can, Mr. Suspicious of everything hitman," you say in with a slightly condescending tone, the corners of your mouth twitches in your effort to keep from smirking at the other.

Reborn glares at you and starts moving as if he was going to hit you, but you look down pointedly at the brown puffball that was still seated in your arms, which was more than enough to make the teenager back down.

"So what happened while I was gone?" You ask conversationally to drive the topic into another direction. Your questions would be better suited for when the three of you were alone.

"Reborn threw me off the roof of the school!" Giotto immediately started complaining.

You only half listen, as is routine. You ask about their day and Giotto will complain about everything Reborn did, then Reborn will reason his actions, then Tsuna would ask if everyone was alright, finally you scold Reborn. But you only really put half the effort in today. Finding out that Fēng and Reborn already knew each other made you think about the mission you just finished. Verde had slipped that he had gotten pulled into working with a group of seemingly powerful individuals consisting of himself, a former military officer turned teacher, martial artist, extreme and seeming immortal stuntman, psychic/illusionist, fortune teller, and hitman. The rumor was that they were the strongest seven of the generation…What was going on?

* * *

After your 'reunion', Tsuna and Giotto went to bed, and the two other teenagers and you were heading out to the nearby shrine so that they could talk in private.

"Reborn, you're looking to pick a fight and I want you to knock it off," you tell the hitman once you reach your destination.

Reborn narrows his eyes. "Then you shouldn't bring around people you barely associate with onto missions."

You raise an eyebrow. "This isn't a mission anymore. You said I was free to do what I wished, remember?"

"That doesn't mean you can bring potentially dangerous people around!" Reborn practically snaps.

It was your turn to narrow your eyes now. "I've known Fēng for nearly seven years now, I don't think he's about to become some mass murderer. I met Fēng when teacher took me train in China for a few months. We've stayed in contact since then."

Reborn didn't say anything, choosing to stick his hands into his pockets and glare at you.

You roll your eyes, but drop the subject. You cross your arms and let your gaze flicker between the hitman and martial artist. You sigh. "This is too troublesome to look into, so I'll just ask if you know who else is in your little group."

"If I remember correctly," Fēng answers complacently, "there is a Miss Lal Mirch and Luce-"

You heart gives a start and your eyebrows quirk down for the shortest of seconds in recognition, your eyes flashing a little, but you refrain from speaking.

"Then there is myself, Reborn, Viper, Skull, and Verde." Fēng folds his hands together under his sleeves.

You make clicking noises with your tongue as you think about everyone who was gathering. "This practically reeks of danger. Whatever stupid thing you're gotten yourselves into, be sure to leave me out of it." You easily dodge the bullet Reborn had aimed for your head.

"You know Luce and Verde." It wasn't a question, Reborn knows you better than you would like to admit.

"I also know of Lal, although not on a personal level." You uncross one hand and wave it in a slight shrug. "I don't even think I've said hello before."

"Then this would be a good time to start, kora!"

A vein pops on your temple for the umpteenth time today at the voice and several more appear when an arm is thrown over your shoulder. "It seems that another irritating one has arrived," you growl.


	6. Target 6

You take the arm over your shoulder and twist the person over your back and onto their backside in front of you. You glare at the teenager lying by your feet in apparent pain, but also amusement. "What have I told you about touching me, Colonello?"

"Your personal bubble seems just as bad as ever," the blond grunts through a strained, yet still somehow hearty, laugh while getting up and brushing the dirt off.

"That's not a suitable answer you military junky," you gripe, crossing your arms once again and tapping your foot to show your growing impatience.

But Colonello just laughs. "Sorry, but your threats don't affect me anymore. Lal would kick my butt if I wasn't able to handle that much."

"Oh?" You raise an eyebrow. "I take that as a challenge then."

Before the blond has time to move, you're behind him and twisting his arm around. You apply just enough pressure so that he is only a hair's breath away from having his arm broken. But when the man still doesn't react beyond a small tightening of his lips, you then start jabbing different spots in his muscles that would make them cramp up, as well as different clusters of nerves.

"This isn't how I wanted our first time meeting up in years to go," Colonello groans.

"You really are pathetic."

You look up to see a teenage girl with blue hair, wearing a brown military uniform. "Lal Mirch, I take it?" You nod to the woman without releasing the irritating blond.

Lal nods in response to answer your question. "You must be…Tweety?"

A vein pops on your temple. That idiot had been telling others that,  _that_  was her name. You shift your hold and swing the stupid blond into a tree. "I don't tell you my real name, so you go around telling people  _that_?" You demand. You click your tongue and turn back to the other woman. "You can just call me JJ for now. You're the head of the COMSUBIN, right?"

Lal nods. "So has what my stupid student told me about you two training together a few years back, true?"

You scratch you head. "Before he started trying for the military and I found a teacher, I guess. But that was a long time ago and I don't really like associating with idiots."

"You lucky then," Lal says with a smirk. "I'm stuck with him because of he's just slightly better than the other cadets."

"You two know you love me!" Colonello chirps, squeezing in between and throwing arm around both of you.

Lal and you move at the same time, elbowing the blond harshly in the gut with enough force combined to send him flying back. The two of you look up and smirk at each other, bonding over a bit of bullying and coming to terms with each other at the very least.

"So what are you guys doing all the way in Japan?" You ask conversationally.

"I also have some work for CEDEF here," Lal tells you, seeing no reason to hide it.

"Ugh, you have to work for Iemitsu? I'm sorry you even have to know that idiot." You sigh and shake your head. "Why are all the blondes I know so stupid?"

"That's your fault for letting yourself become associated with them before researching their backgrounds," Reborn quips, coming up from behind. You can sense that he was feeling smug, but you had no clue why. It's not like he did anything, or you would have noticed.

You shake your head and ignored the hitman, turning back to the other female. "So what does Iemitsu have the nerve to send you to take care of all the way in Japan rather than coming back himself?"

"He asked us to check up on some security details," the woman tells you. You nod. You don't press for details since it wasn't your mission to take care of, plus it would be rude. "Why are you here though, Fēng?"

The martial artist smiled. "I'm here actually just here to visit with Qiăo."

Lal raises an eyebrow. "I'll assume that, that's an Asian based name."

Fēng nodded and turned to look at you. "I suppose I should start calling you JJ as well, or this will start becoming confusing."

You heave a breath and rub your neck wearily. "There have been a lot of people who would normally never come into contact with each other, now meeting up. At this rate I'm going to have to figure out a single name to go by for everyone, which would be a pain. I don't like leaving paper trails like that."

"You won't have to at the rate Iemitsu keeps going around calling you Birdy-chan," Reborn 'casually' informs you with a smirk.

"That idiot needs to learn how to keeps his trap shut," you growl. You look back up at Lal, sensing her curious aura. "What?"

"So you're also the Birdy-chan that idiot keeps yelling about? He's been bragging to everyone that he's adopted a cute new daughter who's also a talented hit woman, and who is looking after his two adorable sons."

"Damn you Iemitsu," you snarl through your teeth, your hand fisted in front of you. You were so pissed off that you were shaking a little. It had been a while since your emotions were so worked up and it drained a lot of your energy. You were lucky that the people nearest to you right now were good at restraining their aura, whether they knew it or not, or you would have been in a world of pain. You sigh. Times like this made your ability too tedious.

Suddenly a heavy aura drops down, forcing you to your knees as you clutch your head. Your barrier was only slightly down, but it felt like a sledgehammer was trying to drive a truck sized wedge into your head. But you know this aura. You fight through your pain until you can locate the origin of the aura, ignoring the hand on your back and the questions of your wellbeing. You push yourself to your feet and take off toward the source. You have to hide your presence and take the long route, just in case one of the others followed you.

You slow down when you're only a short distance away, your gun already out of its holster and at the ready, pointing at your target. You creep quietly out of the shadows behind the person. You know that the person already knows you're there. He probably sensed you from halfway around the world.

"It's good to see you again," the man said quietly.

You tense a little, not enough to throw off your aim, but still enough to reveal how wary of the person you were. The back of your mind takes in the silver sprinkled through the man's black hair you hadn't seen the last time you saw him, showing sure signs of age. But that didn't mean this man was any less dangerous.

The man turns around, letting you see his cold grey eyes. "You've grown, but that was sure to happen whether I noticed or not."

You don't answer. The hairs on the back of your neck felt like they were standing and all the years of training weren't enough to quell the overwhelming sense to run as far away from the person as possible.

"I guess what I mean is that you've made a name for yourself now, on the other hand I knew that would eventually happen too," the man continues as if he doesn't notice your guarded demeanor or the gun pointed straight for his heart. "But I must say that I'm surprised that you're so willing to associate so closely with not only another hitman, but with a mafia don's family. It sounds like you've allowed yourself to become contracted under the Vongola."

You narrow your eyes. That was a ridiculous notion and the man knew it as well. He was just trying to startle a reaction out of you.

"I didn't honestly think you'd be able to smile or show any other emotion for that matter, but a few informants say otherwise. They said they were almost unsure that they had seen correctly, since they had to spy from so far away. Your range of awareness is impressive I must say. But you allowed emotion to cross your face more than enough for them to confirm their observation. It was unanticipated that a little boy would be able to make you grin so much. I suppose that it's understandable that another hitman could irritate you, but this one was a real shocker to me."

You break out into a cold sweat and your heart rate starts to speed up rapidly. There was a clear threat in the undertone of that man's sentence.

"But now you're also working with a bunch who calls themselves the strongest of this century. You're not even one of them, but you're working with them anyways instead of killing at least one of them and claiming their title as your own, and we both know how capable you are of backstabbing someone, aren't we."

You force yourself to breath evenly. If this turns into a fight, and it surely will for what other reason would he seek you out, then you don't want to put another disadvantage on yourself. Adrenaline is already pumping through your veins in anticipation, heightening your awareness.

"What did it feel like to kill your mother with your own hands? Or do you disassociate with that term since you killed her with a gun, so your hands didn't technically touch her."

You could almost sigh out loud. So your suspicions were correct. He wanted revenge after all. But you didn't relax your stance. Even if that was the case, you weren't just going to lie down and let him kill you. That idiot Reborn would find a way to mock and irritate you even in death. You were going to hell anyways, so why rush.

"I didn't expect you to deny my accusations, but I expected at least a few words. Or are you that terrified of me?" The man smirked. "I have always been stronger than you, as it should be considering our age gap, and the position I hold over you is taking its toll as well. So then, are you just shocked that I've come now? Did you expect nothing to happen considering how many years it's been? Or perhaps I came sooner than you could prepare yourself for? You were never good with emotions; even after all that training we put you through. But it's also that training that's going to make you fight for every second of your life."

You don't allow yourself to react, that's just what he wants. He wants some other reason to justify what he was about to attempt.

"Then again, if that was true, then you would have run away the moment you felt my presence. So did you come here to let me kill you, and in doing so, rectify your actions? You're an assassin. You'll be going to hell no matter what you do. Or maybe you regret that kill, so you want to make things better by letting me be the one to end your life.  _Or_  do you think you have a chance and you're here to kill me too. There are many plausible possibilities. I wonder which one is the truth."

Before the man even has time to finish his sentence, you are behind him. You break one elbow and use the other arm to drive the man into the ground, indenting the ground with the force. "The truth is that I'm stronger than you now."

The man smiled. It didn't surprise you. His pain tolerance was high, so you broke his joint instead of his radius or ulna to prevent him from being able to fight back with that limb anymore. "Yeah…I know. That's why I got something else prepared."

His aura shifted and you were able to sense another presence. You looked up, but it was already too late.

A shot echoed through the night.


	7. Target 7

You watch the presence you hadn't sensed, since you were so focused on the man still being held down, fall to the ground and die. You sigh and turn to look at a fourth person, whom you already knew had followed you. "You didn't have to interfere Reborn, I had everything under control."

"Ha." The hitman materializes out of the shadows. "You wouldn't have been able to completely dodge that and you know it."

"It would have just hit my shoulder and then he would have been dead anyways." You shake your head and turn your attention back to the man under you. He didn't seem scared or shocked that you hadn't been killed by his sneak attack. "I never did like any of your games old man."

The man smirked. "It's good to see that your skills have grown so much. It almost makes me proud. But you should just get this over with now."

"Very well…Father." You pull the trigger and then the man's body becomes slack.

You shut down and out all emotions, just staring at the body before you. You were now an orphan, left behind with nothing but the title you were forced to inherit despite your effort to avoid it. You look up when you feel a pressure on your head.

"You dropped this," Reborn says casually, like nothing had just happened.

You're tempted to roll your eyes. "I left my hat behind on purpose, Reborn. I was hoping that you would wait for me to come back."

"But if I had done that, then who would have saved your sorry ass when you failed to finish the job."

Your eyebrow twitches. "Don't treat me like one of those helpless damsels in distress. I promised to make you eat your words all those years ago, now didn't I? I don't plan on dying until I follow through with everything I promised."

"That's another one of your flaws," Reborn reprimands. "As a hitman, it should be expected that not all of your promises can be fulfilled."

"Reborn, I'm a hitman, not a liar." You sigh. "We should get going. I'm sure the others are still hanging around where we left them."

The two of you head back in silence. And though you would never verbally admit it, you found a small amount of comfort for your actions in Reborn's presence. Shortly you two are emerging from the trees and you are met with the sight of another familiar face.

You raise your eyebrows. "Luce?"

The woman turns around and smiles. "It's good to see you again."

"What are you doing here?" You ask, not expecting the woman to appear before you again anytime soon.

"I actually came here with a couple of job requests, as well as a message from Vongola Nono," the woman informs you and hands over a manila folder with the Vongola insignia on its seal.

A vein pops on your forehead as you read through the report. "Oh hell no. I'm not doing this. No matter how much they pay me, I'm not taking this job for Nono."

"What's he asking you to do?" Colonello asks you.

You click your tongue and rub your temples. "He seems to be under the impression that I can work well with others."

"Generally you are, so long as the pay is good," Reborn comments.

"Not with this one. Damn, I can already feel the headache coming on." You're practically grinding your fist into your head by now. "If I hear that idiot's loudmouth friend shout  _one more time_ , I don't care who I'm working for, I'll kill them all right then and there."

"He wants you to work with them, huh?" Reborn shook his head. "I can't say I blame you for not wanting to take on this one. They even drive me up the wall if I'm with them for more than a few hours."

"Driving me up the wall aside, that loudmouth is going to make me deaf if I stick around for too long," You gripe. With a sigh you turn your attention back to Luce. "What's your job request?"

The woman hands you another folder, which you look over quickly. The job wasn't too difficult. You just had to track down some illusionist and report on their whereabouts as well as their abilities. You were also being asked to bring them in alive if you could, force would probably be necesary. You nod. You can take care of this one.

"How long?" Reborn asks, knowing that you have already decided to take at least one of the jobs.

"Two, maybe three months," you estimate. You look back up at Luce. "You also had a message right?"

The woman nodded. "Yes, Nono would like you to stop by so that he can discuss something with you."

You sigh. "In other words, he's trying to corner me into that job. What a sneaky old man."

Luce giggled. "Well, you don't have to meet up with him for a few days and then you can start that other job after that one. So you'll have some time to prepare."

You rub your neck wearily. "What a pain. To many things are happing all at once."

"Well, we have stuff to take care of," Lal announces.

"We'll try to meet up later before you leave," Colonello adds. "If not, we'll probably still be around by time you get back."

You nod and wave goodbye. You kind of wonder if you should smile. But you feel so tired right now. There had been a lot more emotions than you could handle running through you a few moments ago. But at the same time, you could tell that the blond idiot was a little concerned for your wellbeing, considering how you suddenly ran off after probably looking like you were in pain. You sigh a little. He'll probably interrogate you about what happened later. You'll have to come up with a good excuse in the meantime.

"We should probably head back and get in some rest, no?" Fēng brings up. "I'll meet up with you tomorrow, for now I'm heading back to my sister's residence."

Luce nods and smiles. "I shall take my leave as well."

You nod and wave to the two as well. Now it was just you and Reborn. You sigh again. "This was all too cumbersome. Had I known your favor would have led to this, I think I would have tried to find another way to repay you."

"My favor had nothing to do with this," Reborn argues. "That confrontation would have happened no matter where you were."

"Yeah…I guess you're right." You're too tired to put up an argument. Your barrier hadn't been lowered so much in years, and to make it worse, it had been forcibly taken down. As long as that barrier was up, it was difficult for you to show any emotions. But it protected you from the world and the harsh auras of others. It was a literal barrier of emotions. To have it torn down like that was like having you stripped naked in a blizzard and volcanic eruption at the same time.

Reborn must have noticed your fatigue because he didn't make any more comments at your expense, just taking the lead to head back to the apartment. All too sudden you are entering the building and collapsing onto your bed. You don't even remember your head hitting the pillow before you are out like a light.

* * *

You are drawn back into consciousness abruptly when you hear your door open, but you don't open your eyes. More likely than not, it's just one of the Sawada matriarch of the household coming to wake you up. But that theory is proven wrong when you feel the bed dip down at the edge and a little body hoist itself up. You open one eye and look at Tsuna. "Yes, little one?"

"Nee-chan, can I sleep with you for a little bit?" The brunet asks, his voice wavering a little.

"Let me guess, a nightmare and that funny feeling in your tummy at the same time?"

Tsuna nodded.

You yawn and scoot over, pulling the blanket back so the little boy could crawl underneath. "I thought you usually climbed into Giotto or Reborn's bed."

You are drawn back into consciousness abruptly when you hear your door open, but you don't open your eyes. More likely than not, it's just one of the Sawada matriarch of the household coming to wake you up. But that theory is proven wrong when you feel the bed dip down at the edge and a little body hoist itself up. You open one eye and look at Tsuna. "Yes, little one?"

Somewhere in the back of the more coherent portion of your brain, there is an evil cackle. Oh how you wished you had caught that on tape so that you could rub it in the jerk's face. But more importantly than that, was the child's was of talking. You tap the little boy's nose. "There was a lot of Tsu-kun's in that sentence. You should start using I, me, myself and all those other terms for referring to yourself. You remember our speech lesson before I left, don't you?"

"Yes Nee-chan. But Mama and Gio-nii says it's cute."

' _Note to self, scold Giotto for reinforcing poor speech habits later_.' You sigh. "You'll be cute no matter what you do, Tsuna...Do you want to tell me about your dream?"

The child stiffens and clutches the front of your shirt tighter. "Tsu-kun had a bad dream that Nee-chan got really, really hurt while you were away. Then Nee-chan died and never came back." The little boy started to sniffle and tears appeared on the corners of his eyes. "Even Reborn was really sad, and Reborn never shows that he's unhappy. I don't want Nee-chan to die!"

In the middle of wishing to see what Reborn would look like upset for the sake of blackmail, you become a little worried when the little brunet buries his face into your chest and starts to wail. This wasn't exactly how you planned on sleeping in. You rub the boy's back and hold in another sigh. "I'm not going anywhere little one. Your nee-chan is really strong and won't go down easily."

"You promise?" The little boy whimpers.

' _Too many promises_ ,' you grumble in your head. But you don't allow any emotions to show through as you gaze at the little boy and nod. "I promise."

Tsuna smiles a little and snuggles into your side. And pretty soon, the two of you are fast asleep.

* * *

Apparently god or whatever deity out there hated you, because not even two hours later you are rudely woken up again.

"Reborn, I think you a fixin' for an early death," you growl, slowly opening your eyes to stare at the stupid gun barrel pointed at your head. "Good morning to you though, Leon."

The lizard transforms back into his normal form and flicks its tongue at you as a greeting. To which Reborn clicks his tongue and mutters 'traitor'. You smirk. Although you don't appreciate being woken up not only earlier than you hoped but also at gun point, you always enjoy trumping the 'world's greatest hitman'.

"Is there any particular reason you felt the need to wake me up in such a rude fashion, or were you just concerned for your godson's wellbeing?" You don't bother to mention your own, since it was more than unlikely that Reborn would care about your health. You chuckle a little when the lightest traces of pink can be seen on the Italian's cheekbones.

Reborn scoffs a little. "He crawled into the bed of nearly emotionless and detached assassin, who wouldn't be worried."

It's your turn to scoff now. "

Says the man who forced said assassin to enter the household of the little one. So what do you want anyways?"

"You two need to get up, there's something we're all doing today since you'll be leaving for a while."

You rub your index finger and thumb over your eyes before ending with pinching the bridge of your nose. "And this couldn't have waited for another few hours because…?"

"The weather's good right now, I was already up and felt like it, and it would annoy you." You would have socked that damned smirk off the jerk's face if you could.

You could practically see the heavy purple bags under your eyes. But you sigh and shake Tsuna awake, telling him to go get dressed and meet you in the kitchen. Reborn left along with the small brunette so that you could get ready. Once you were presentable and all traces of your exhaustion were hidden away, you walked over and joined the others at the kitchen table.

You thank Nana when she sets down breakfast in front of you before turning your attention toward the hitman seated next to you. "So what's so important that you had to wake me up, especially after everything that happened last night?"

Reborn's unusually sly smirk is starting to worry you, which is really bad because he hadn't even spoken yet. "Too make up for leaving without saying good bye as well as you leaving in a few days, today you'll be treating these two to the zoo."

…"Eh?"


	8. Target 8

This….was giving you a headache. You stare at Reborn, refusing to give him the satisfaction of receiving an uncharacteristic reaction from you. That and you're not really sure how to react, except for being tired.

"Eh…?" You finally manage. Wide vocabulary you had there, huh?

"You're taking them to the zoo," Reborn reiterated.

You blink. For some reason your brain isn't processing what the other hitman is saying. Maybe you should just go back to bed.

"I would suggest you not follow through with that thought process or you'll be hard pressed to get any more sleep until the day you leave." Reborn said this in an undertone so that the other two wouldn't be able to hear, his lips barely moving.

"Are you really taking us to the zoo?" Tsuna asked excitedly, his eyes sparkling. You could practically feel the stray glitter around him bouncing off your head.

You turned away, breaking out into a light sweat. That was close. You mustn't look directly into those eyes or you would be trapped. In fact, don't look anywhere within five feet of the child. This is just a hassle and you don't want to agree, but if you look into his eyes, he'll have you doing backflips for him. Don't look. Don't look. Don't look! You squeeze your eyes shut and cover them with your hands. There was a sniffle and your resolve wavered. Crap! You forgot to cover your ears too!

You feel Reborn tap your shoulder. "That's not's going to work, Reborn."

"Ara? What's going on?" Nana asked.

You turn around to look at the woman, only to have a face full of puppy eyed Tsuna shoved in front of you. You could feel the remnants of your will to say no die like a pitiable vampire in sunlight. Its ashes blown away by the wind created from fate whispering 'sucker' repeatedly.

"You are taking us to the zoo today, aren't you Nee-chan?" Although the sentence sounded like a question, you could hear the command behind it as clear as day.

Damn. Reborn had more influence on this boy than you had thought. You should have never let your guard down around him, especially knowing that he was around a manipulative bastard long before you met him. And now you were stuck.

You release a gust of air and press a hand to your forehead. "Heeeaaaaadaaaache~," you growl quietly. Your eye twitches when you see the hitman's triumphant smirk, but you push your thoughts of murder aside and look back up at the waiting boy. "Yes, I'll take you."

"Yay! Thank you Nee-chan!" Tsuna cheers and hugs your neck before running off to his room to get ready.

Giotto smiles as well. "This should be a lot of fun!"

You just bury your head into your arms and mutter curses of death and destruction on the smug idiot still seated beside you. May whatever deity that may or may not exist, better hope you don't get your hands around its neck, or it'll wish it never even met you.

The four of you head out moments later, dressed lightly since it was hot outside. Though, you still wore your regular dress shirt and slacks (like Reborn wore his usual suit) just in a lighter material and colors (lighter colors was only on your part though, Reborn said heat was all in the mind). Tsuna skipped merrily, caught in between Reborn and Giotto, their hands tightly clasped around then child's.

You didn't like it. Yeah, it was an innocent action on the outside, the two boys were merely protecting the smallest one, but their aura's said otherwise. Their wish was to keep the brunet to themselves, to control him. It was coming off in waves, making your heart rate increase and your stomach churn. It made you feel sick. The possessiveness, the tightfisted hold they were exercising over the child, the greed for his presence. Your hands felt clammy and suddenly you feel desperate to escape. This sort of aura was dangerous. It would result in unseen pain and despair for the victim, and you didn't want to be around when it happened. It was already difficult enough to breath, and you weren't even the intended target. You didn't want to watch another fall to a fate similar to your own.

So you vanish. In a jump unseen by anyone else, you arrive on top of the roofs. The air is crisp and clear up here, and you can no longer feel the horrible auras. But this isn't right either. Guilt, an emotion you hadn't associated with in a long time, but you think that's what you're feeling right now. You feel guilty for leaving Tsuna behind like that. You know that Tsuna could sense it as well. Maybe not to the extent you could, but enough to make him feel scared and have nightmares. His intuition is stronger than the others give him credit for.

You take a deep breath and jump back down, landing in front of the trio. "Tsunayoshi, come here."

It takes a few tugs before the boy manages to free himself and stand before you. You crouch down so that he didn't have to strain himself. "Where'd you go, nee-chan? I looked behind, but you had disappeared."

"I like to be up high," you point up to the roofs.

Reborn snorts lightly. "Just like the stupid bird nickname that you continue to deny."

You glare a little, but overall ignore the teen. You turn around so that your back faced the child. "Climb on."

Tsuna tilts his head in question.

You smile the slightest amount. "I'll carry you on my back to the zoo." The child lights up like a Christmas tree and scrambles on, much to your amusement. "Hold on tightly."

Before the other two could argue, you jump up again and run over the roofs. You thought that the small brunet would scream in fright and beg you to slow down, but he squeals in delight instead. The child's laughter and giggles are contagious, and you find yourself smiling as well. The air was your domain. It offered you the freedom and peace that the people on the ground did not.

"Nee-chan, how come people can't see us?" Tsuna asks.

You could almost laugh at the child's bluntness. It truly was amazing how much his intuition could tell him sometimes. "I'm using an illusion to hide us. Even Reborn can't see us right now, though he would still be able to find us if he really tried." You jump down from the roof tops and let the two of your appear in the crowd at the zoo entrance.

You feel Tsuna's arms tighten and look over your shoulder. "Thanks you nee-chan."

Your eyes soften. Tsuna's intuition probably told him the reasons behind your actions, which would explain why he didn't question you. You turn away to look for the hitman and his student, muttering, "it was no problem," back softly so that he would be the only one to hear.

* * *

To say that Reborn was displeased with your actions would be a major understatement. However, you didn't care. Instead, you respond to his scolding and glares by pulling down your lower eyelid and sticking out your tongue. Normally, this could have nearly killed you, but at that moment you still had Tsunayoshi on your back. Reborn hand twitches in the obvious, 'I really want to shoot you' action, so you give the proper reply by sticking out your tongue again and giving him the peace/victory sign. You knew that Reborn found it irritating when you made faces without any emotions behind them. He was always telling you that one day another child would pick it up as well, but that was a ridiculous notion in your opinion (which is why you both put a thousand euros down as a bet).

After a short argument, consisting of whispered shouts, Tsunayoshi was returned to the ground and placed (trapped) in between his older brother and godfather once more. You purse your lips, but can do nothing about it right now, so you'll have to let it go. You can read from the youngest one that he wants to make the other two happy, which is why he doesn't complain, but he really wanted to run around as he pleased. It really wasn't fair to him.

So you do what any other caring illusionist would do, and switch the little one with an illusion of himself and run away with the real one. You just had to wait until they were moving away from the reptile room, then 'bump' into the two, where you performed your little magic trick in the safety of darkness and ran like hell was after you, which it probably was with how mad Reborn was going to be. You two only had about a five minute head start (if you were lucky) before Reborn would notice, and then it would be a very dangerous and maybe even suicidal game of cat and mouse. The majority of your thoughts from that point were, ' _Run bitch, run_!'

But Tsunayoshi, being the kind and overly caring (to the point of hurting himself) one, decided that they shouldn't disobey Reborn and just get ice cream and wait for the hitman and his brother to come. The little one sat on your lap and chatted away about everything and anything while licking his strawberry cone. Sooner than you had hoped, Reborn arrives. But he decides to be nice and let Tsuna walk around the zoo with you.

To which you reply with you gun raised (covered in mist flames so that only the four of you can see it), "who are you and what have you done with Reborn. Scratch that. I congratulate you and wish to offer you a reward for ridding me of the bane of my existence."

Reborn scowls and flicked your forehead. Sadly, with Tsunayoshi on your lap you cannot evade such a simple blow. "You should learn how to offer gratitude correctly when someone is being nice."

"I do. Just not to you." You shake your head. "You probably want to 'train' Giotto and find the animal that fits him best, right?"

Reborn smirks. "We'll meet you in front of the fountain in two hours."

You sigh. Poor, poor Gio. It may not be enough that he took off running the moment Reborn and training were uttered in the same sentence. "Just be sure that you don't drag the two of us into your mess. You owe me at least that much for waking me up without the required amount of sleep to rebuild my barrier."

Reborn nodded then headed off with obvious sadistic-Spartan-demon-tutor-enjoying-the-hell-out-of-torturing-his-student glinting in his eyes.

"Should we follow to make sure Gio-nii will be okay?" Tsuna asks worriedly, looking up and over his shoulder at you.

You wave the child's words away. "No way. It would be way too troublesome and Reborn might take that chance to 'train' you as well."

The small brunet shuddered. "Good point. Then can we go see the lions next?" Tsuna asked cheerfully, completely setting his big brother's wellbeing to the very back corner of his mind.

* * *

It was nearing the two hour mark, so you and Tsuna head back over to the fountain. Tsuna plays around, chasing after the birds, while you sat on the fountain edge to watch. It was peaceful and a nice break from the everyday world of attacks that you had grown used to. Then again, by the suddenly half empty zoo and sense of foreboding entangling in your stomach, perhaps you spoke too soon.

A familiar shift of movement to your right was all it took for you to dive forward and pull Tsuna into the safety of your arms. You hide your forms in a coating of mist flames and take off running to the set of bushes, hiding the child there.

"Don't come out until I come to get you alright?" You whisper hurriedly, barely waiting for the boy to nod. "And don't make a sound. Stay hidden."

You make yourself appear a distance away from the bushes, just in case, and take out your guns. It's a simple matter to take out these wannabe assassins. None of them are even close to someone of your caliber. These idiots really didn't have any choice but drop like the flies they were. Several were incapacitated with a quick flick of your wrist, which led to their arms and legs being broken, so that you could interrogate them later before sending them back to their boss as a warning. It helped that the remaining civilians had run away, so you didn't have to hold back or fight in a way that would keep you concealed.

"Drop your weapon!" You turn around to face the fountain, where one of the few remaining thugs stood, to see one of the assassins holding up Tsuna in front of him. "Drop your guns or I'll shoot this kid, and you wouldn't want to draw any civilians into this would you?"

You glare at the man, your eyes darting between him and the child as you assessed the situation. The man was holding Tsuna up to hide his head and chest, while pointing a gun at the child's head. You could always just shoot his legs, but the guy could squeeze the trigger in pain, resulting in Tsuna's death. You narrow your eyes. Well this sucked. Where the hell was that idiot when you needed him? You take a deep breath and raise your heads, guns disappearing to who knows where.

The man smirked, but didn't lower the child. "Good. Now you're going to come with us nice and quiet."

A couple of thugs come up hesitantly and bind your hands. You can tell that they fear you, but that fear stems from your recent display of abilities and not your reputation. None of them have any clue as to who you are, and are just taking you captive as a precaution. However, they also don't know who the child they are kidnapping is either. This confuses you because why else would they be here? Giotto and Reborn weren't nearby, otherwise you wouldn't be stuck in this position right now, so who were they trying to kill?

You're tempted to sigh again. This was such a pain. And this is exactly why you hate 'family' outings.


	9. Target 9

Your head is knocked to the side for the umpteenth time, as the man slaps you again. ' _Yeah. Keep it up. Keep asking me nonspecific questions and I'll quiver in fear of your hand and spill everything I know about the subject you won't tell me about_ ,' you think sarcastically, spitting to get the blood from your cut lip out.

You were currently bound to a chair with rope in a dimly lit room of some random warehouse you don't really care about. They had taken Tsuna away to another room and you were waiting for the man who took him away to come back before you made your next move.

"Tell us everything you know!" The man shouted.

You sigh internally. What a pain, what a pain~. "Okay. We live on the planet called Earth and is a part of the solar system, which is a series of eight plants that circle around that big shiny thing in the sky, called the sun."

SLAP! "Don't get smart with us bitch! Now spill, or we'll have to move onto our other torture devices."

' _Is that what you call your scare tactics? I've seen Chihuahuas more frightening than you_.' You're tempted to shake your head at the men.

"What family are you from?" The man demanded.

"I believe there were a mother and a father," you reply.

"Why are you here?"

"It's a zoo. Those places tend to be for recreational visiting, are they not?"

"Who sent you?"

"I wasn't aware that I needed permission to leave home from daddy."

The man kicks you in the stomach, but you don't give any reaction besides doubling over a little. He smirks. "You're definitely a professional hitman, though you were easy to catch, so you must be someone new."

' _If only you knew, you complete moron._ ' That other man better come back soon. You were losing your patience with these idiots.

"But we know how to get your kind talking." The man pulled out a knife, just as the other one came back into the room.

"You got me!" You cry out dramatically, cringing in your seat. "You found my weakness! It's small knives! Oh woe is me! How will I ever be able to protect myself!...Oh, I know."

You lean back and kick the person away, pushing yourself into a bent standing position and head butting another thug. You roll to the side, opening your arms in a circle to avoid the corners of the chair cutting into you, to avoid the gunfire. Then you smash the chair into the man standing by the door, consequentially breaking the chair as well as a few of his ribs. You then take the shards and throw them with enough force to impale a couple other men. Last of all you run up to the man who had been kicking, slapping, and punching you for the past half hour and punch him in the face, breaking his nose. He looked up at you in horror.

You tap your hand against your head lightly, holding the switchblade in front of you. "Silly me. That was actually so simple."

The man promptly passed out.

You shake your head and walk out of the room. Imbeciles, all of them.

You walk casually down the hallway, shooting anyone you see before they even had a chance to register who you were. It wasn't long till you reached the room with Tsuna's fearful aura. You peek inside and see that there is another dozen of men guarding the area. It was truly pathetic that they needed so many of their members to keep an eye on a kid.

You pull yourself out of sight, and pull out a second gun. "Hey, little one! Do you trust me?" You call out, your back pressed against the wall.

"Un!"

You smirk. "Then close your eyes and count to ten. Don't open them until you finish, got it?"

"Un!"

You take out the first few guys that had been running up to the door before focusing your weapons on the others, taking them out quickly. There was a soundproof barrier, made out of your mist flames, around the child so he wouldn't hear you killing so many. You snapped the necks of a couple that tried to use Tsuna as a shield, but stuck to your artillery for the most part. Just as Tsuna was opening his eyes, you had picked him up and exited the room. He never even caught a glance of your handy work.

"Nee-chan, are you okay?" Tsuna asked worriedly, placing a hand near your cut lip.

"Huh. Forgot about that. You wanna see a magic trick?" You ask the boy. When he nods, you lift a hand to cover your lip and applied a small amount of your sun flames, then pulled away to reveal that you were completely healed. "Ta da."

It didn't really sound that spectacular since you didn't sing out the stupid jingle like most would, but Tsuna smiled brightly and cheered nonetheless. He is just as amazed when you heal his rope burns just as quickly and demands to know your trick to which you reply "a magician never reveals their secrets".

When the two of you exit the warehouse, you are confronted with the sight of Reborn, Giotto, Fēng, Colonello, and Lal. All of you freeze and stare at each other in shock.

"Yo," you say to break the shocked silence.

But, perhaps this was unwise as you now had to dodge a series of bullets, courtesy of a very pissed off Reborn. It was a good thing that you had set Tsuna down just before you had exited the building.

"Reborn! Stop!" Tsuna shouts and latches onto the arm holding the hitman's gun, after pulling himself away from his older brother.

You had been in a handstand and with a twirl you flip back into a normal standing position. "Not exactly the welcome back I had expected, but it's nice to know you care and didn't panic," you say sarcastically.

"How could you pull such a mean prank!" Giotto accuses.

You deadpan. "I get beaten up for half an hour and this is the reception I get? Nice to know you guys are confident about my behavior."

"What happen?" Lal decides to ask.

You stretch your neck in the hopes of cracking it to relieve some tension, but find yourself unsuccessful. "I dunno. I think it was that group you two were watching for. They attacked us at the zoo, so I started taking care of the threat since I didn't want Tsunayoshi getting hurt. But one of them caught the little one and used him as a shield, so I had to give myself up. Then we ended up here where they used the crappiest interrogation techniques I've ever seen, only for me to beat the living daylights out of them when Tsunayoshi was out of sight. Honestly, I haven't seen so many 'interrogation don'ts' since I read that mafia history book written from a few hundred years ago, and even that had better tactics."

Colonello laughed. "So where are they? Lal and I need to take them in for interrogation."

"Sorry about that then, but they're all…" you make a slashing motion across your neck.

"All of them!" Colonello asked incredulously. "Man, what's got you so pissed off?"

"Five of them hit me, two of them tied me up, and eleven of them took Tsunayoshi away from me," you list off. "The rest just pissed me off for working with a bunch of idiots like that and I had a hit for at least three of them that I was going to have to take care of in the next six months anyways."

"You should really try meditating more to work out that aggression," Fēng scolded lightly.

You look up and tap you chin with you index finger. "Hmm…There was no aggression, I was just feeling a bit on the sadistic side today…I think I've been spending too much time with Reborn as of late."

The hitman shook his head with an amused smirk. "Don't go blaming me for something you would have done anyways."

Giotto shivered. "I never knew you could be so scary and…Reborn-like."

A vein pops on your forehead as you deadpan. You flick the younger blonde's forehead. "Don't relate me to that sadistic idiot. He and I are nothing alike."

Reborn rolled his eyes. "Let's head back already. I'm sure mama will start worrying soon otherwise."

"I'll catch up with you guys later," you say with a small wave.

Reborn's eyes narrowed minutely. "What do you mean?"

"I already had prior arrangements with Fēng," you point at the martial artist, "which he kindly pushed back so that I could take Tsuna and Giotto to the zoo. And since that's over and done with, I'm going to spend the rest of my day with him."

You notice a twitch from Reborn's lips, like he is about to grimace. You have no idea why he dislikes Fēng so much though. He was such an easy going and charismatic guy, and you actually enjoyed his presence, so why did Reborn have to throw such a…fit?

"Fine," the hitman finally replied stiffly. "We'll see you when you get back."

You nod. "You do that." The remaining four of you watch as the trio leaves.

Lal sighs a little. "Colonello and I will wait for the cleanup crew then."

"I could help if you like," you offer. After all, you did leave a mess behind and you had enough proper etiquette to clean up after yourself.

Lal holds up her hand and shakes her head. "This was part of my mission anyways. Thanks for your help though."

You nod as well. "Then I shall take my leave too."

With that you and Fēng head off.

* * *

You sigh a little and open the door quietly. It was actually quite late. You hadn't been expecting come back after so long.

"About time."

You resist the urge to groan and look up at the table where Reborn is seen waiting up for you. "Why are still up Reborn?"

"Waiting for you to come back. I should think that was obvious." Despite his words, there was no humor in his tone.

"And pray tell, why would you do that?" You question halfheartedly. You don't really care for the answer, but the sooner Reborn vented, the sooner you could go to bed.

"Because you are also one of the guardians here and Tsuna, not to mention Giotto, would be highly upset if you never came back. You're known to sneak away in the nights after all." Reborn's gaze is hard and it feels like he's trying to look into your very soul.

You sigh. "One, I'm not a guardian; Two, they shouldn't miss me too much. I'm still practically a stranger to them. They know my name and profession, but nothing else."

Reborn's guarded body language and strange aura throws you off. It's like he's trying to say something, but at the same time he's holding himself back. "Tomorrow is parent teacher day. I'll be going to Giotto's school with mama, so we think you should do to school with Tsuna."

You shrug. "Alright. I have no qualms with that. I've been meaning to see the faces of Tsuna's bullies anyways. It's about time they had a few warnings about harming the little one."

"And you say you aren't a guardian," Reborn scoffs. He pauses, while staring at you, like he's trying to find something. "So what did you and Fēng do?"

You shake your head. Guess you should have seen this coming. "We went to a café to talk and catch up a little, then we hit a movie, got some dinner, and then hung out at the park to discuss what we think might be happening in the near future."

There's a twitch of the nose, like he's about to grimace, but then he smirks. "Sounds like a date to me."

"Really? Then darn. I missed my chance to hold hands, hug, and get a doorstep kiss." You snap your fingers in mock disappointment. Your voice was practically dripping sarcasm.

Reborn rolls his eyes, but you can tell that his mood has lightened a little.

"So what sort of torture did you put Giotto though at the zoo?" You ask, seating yourself across from the man.

A genuine smirk comes out at last. "I released a bunch of animals and made Giotto round them up. We were trying to find the animal that fit him most."

You fold on arm close to you and use your other to prop you head up on your pal. "Oh? And did you find his corresponding animal?"

"I was thinking lions."

"Ara? Really? That's Tsuna's favorite and I thought it fit him quite well." You flick your hat lightly so that its brim was a little higher.

Reborn frowned a little. "A lion would be too dangerous for Tsuna. Something like a rabbit is more suited to him."

"You think so?" You gaze at the other, pretending to be bored but you're sure that he could see the intensity in your eyes. "I think he really is like a lion. You just have to give him the chance to roar and show his fangs. I believe that Tsunayoshi would make an excellent leader one of these days, and an even better friend."

"But it won't be in the mafia," Reborn intrudes.

You almost roll your eyes. "Why bother telling him that his family is associated with the mafia if you're just going to keep him out of it?"

"He should know the truth, but that doesn't mean we'll put him in danger like that."

At this, you sigh. What a truly exasperating bunch. "If that is how you see fit. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get in a little shut eye before tomorrow. I'm still weary from yesterday. Night."

"Goodnight."

You don't have to turn around to know that Reborn's eyes are following you.

You smile a little when you close your door and turn around. There's a lump on your bead with poofy brown hair resting on your pillow. You quickly change and climb into the bed next to the small child.

The movement woke the small child, who yawned and rubbed on of his eyes with a little fist. "Welcome back, nee-chan."

You can't help but smile again and pull the child into a soft embrace. "Why are you here little one?"

"I wanted to sleep with nee-chan again because nee-chan will scare away all nightmares since nee-chan is so strong," Tsuna mumbles, already going back to sleep.

You tighten you hold a little and bury your face into the child's soft tresses. "Alright. Goodnight Tsuna."

Tsuna wiggles himself into a comfortable position, trying to get as close as possible. "Goodnight nee-chan."


	10. Target 10

Tsuna skips by your side while holding tightly to your hand. This means that you have to work extra hard to make sure the child doesn't trip or runs into anything, but you don't complain. It was actually quite amusing.

This morning when the plans for the day were relayed to Tsuna and Giotto, the brunette had tackled you, almost sending you to the ground from the force. You had been nursing your precious mug of coffee while trying to get the remnants of sleep out of your system (you have officially spent too many days in civilian territory for you to have become this soft). Tsuna had then made a mad dash to his room and gotten ready in record time, which was two hours before school started when it was only a fifteen minute walk.

"I'm so happy you're coming with me today!" Tsuna cheered. "Mama usually goes to Gio-nii's school and then there's usually not enough time to make it to my class."

You frown internally at this. You didn't think Nana was the type to leave her youngest out like this. "Doesn't she switch off every year?"

Tsuna stopped skipping and looked down sadly. "Well this is my first parents' visitation day, so I thought she would come… But that's okay! I have you nee-chan!"

You place a hand over your heart. You had felt this strange tightening feeling in your chest and you weren't completely sure what it was. Perhaps you needed to get a checkup? But you smile at the small child anyways. "I'm glad that I'm able to be the one to attend your first parents' day."

Tsuna smiles even brighter and starts telling you about his class, his teacher, their activities, their playground, his classmates, the other students, the other staff, his desk, and on and on.

You keep smiling, but sweat drop a little at the information load. You've heard most of the things he's telling you more than once, but you let him continue because you don't want to be the one to kill his happy streak. But the little boy is so preoccupied that he doesn't notice the curb and slips. You quickly swing the child up into the air and catch him.

The small brunette laughed. "That was a lot of fun! Thanks nee-chan!"

You smile slightly and bop the child on the nose softly. "Be more careful next time."

"That was pretty pathetic, even for you dame-Tsuna!"

The child in your arm flinches at the nickname and you direct a glare (and possibly a bit of killing intent) toward the voice that had harassed the little one. You spot the little idiot right away. He looked like and ugly little pug pig hybrid and was holding his mother's hand.

"Oh boys. They’re just so rowdy aren't they?" The woman says with a smile and a hand on the side of her face. She was completely unapologetic.

"Excuse me?" You hiss.

"Don't worry about it. Boys will be boys after all," the woman says.

You bristle angrily. Boys will be boys! What type of sorry excuse was that! You open your mouth the give the woman a good piece of your mind, and maybe introduce her to your good friend the gun, when you feel a tug on your collar.

"It's okay nee-chan…I'm used to it," Tsuna says quietly.

All fight drains out of you and you focus your attention on the small child in your arms. You set him on the ground and hug the small thing. "You are most certainly notused to it, nor should you ever be, Tsunayoshi. They obviously haven't taken the time to get to know you, or they'd know how wonderful you are. Besides, I don't want you to ever take such insults from ugly little pugletts." Tsuna broke out into a fit of laughter from your title for the brat. You ruffle his hair and stand up, taking his hand once more. "Now lead me to your class."

Tsuna, in a good mood once again, tugs you toward his class and sits down excitedly while you line up in the back with the rest of the mothers. You lean against the wall in the corner to try to avoid standing near the other women, who knows how many of them had rotten children too? Most of them were eyeing you anyways, assuming (without even bother to ask) that you were a teen mom. Your suspicion is confirmed when they start whispering loudly, wondering who your kid was. The stupid idiots.

The door slides open and a man walks in, signaling the start of class when he stands at the podium. "My apologies. Suzuki-san is out sick, so I will be filling in for today. My name is Akimoto Daiki." The substitute's eyes trail over the females in the back with poorly hidden hunger. You are disgusted when his gaze lingers on you.

The class is no better. It is obvious that they are picking Tsuna to answer the most difficult questions that many of the other students didn't know either. You could tell by their apprehensive auras and the 

uncertainty written all over their face. The mothers are no better, snickering loud enough for others to hear and saying how 'grateful' they were that they did have such a stupid child. Finally, you snap.

You send a pencil flying, imbedding itself in the wall next to the teacher's head. And glare at the man, causing him to quiver in fear. The other parents whisper, trying to figure out where that pencil came from, but neither you nor the teacher speaks up. The lesson continues and you start impaling the student's desks as well. For the exceptionally bad cases where you had to send more than one pencil into a desk, you started aiming closer and closer to their persons. When that wasn't enough, you started throwing pink erasers. They would probably get brain damage later if they didn't get their injuries taken care of properly.

But it appeared that even that wasn't enough of a hint. After one final attack, where a kid actually pushed Tsuna out of his seat, you punched the wall to keep yourself from killing the little insect. The parents gasped and stared at the massive crater in fear.

"Oi, if you don't stop picking on Tsunayoshi then you may have to call the morgue. And you sorry excuses for parents. How dare you openly mock another person's child? No wonder you have such fat useless scum for a brat offspring," you growl. "How can you just stand there and let your little merda of a son physically hurtanother? Have you no shame? And here I was told that your kind held great honor. Obviously this school has none."

"Wow. You have a lot of guts to say that in my school, not to mention destroying school property." You turn to see a child maybe a couple of years older than Tsuna with black hair and slanted steel colored eyes. The child pulls out a couple of tonfas. "For that, I shall bite you to death."

The children whisper 'Hibari' and start shaking in even greater fear.

A hand descends on the boy's shoulder and restrains him from attacking. "Stand down Kyoya. She is carnivore and way out of your league."

You follow the hand to the owner. It was one of Giotto's friends, Alaude, who you met at the child's birthday party. Your rage quells for a moment as you take in how similar they were, but then returns full blast when you remember why you were so pissed off.

"You punish ignorant and sorry-excuses-for-a-human-type herbivores, correct?" You ask, pointing to the group of parents.

"Why?" It was Alaude who asked.

"Every single one of them was ganging up on Tsunayoshi. They were a weak pack of herbivores crowding together so that they could appear stronger." There was the possibility that you were shaking, you were so angry.

"Oh?" The younger Hibari raised his eyebrow to that and grinned viciously. "Then I shall bite them to death."

Alaude smirked as well. "Then you take the students and I'll take the parents. You take the teacher." The last part was directed toward yourself.

You smirked and turned toward the cowardly fool while cracking your knuckles. "My pleasure."

* * *

"Nee-chan, you shouldn't have hurt everyone like that?" Tsuna scolded, eyeing the smoldering pile of people behind you.

"Then they shouldn't have picked on you like that," you tell the boy uncaringly. Reborn would probably accuse you of sulking like a little kid, but he wasn't here right now so who cares. "Besides, I wiped their memory of today. All that'll remain is the feeling of intense fear whenever they pick on a child like that again."

Tsuna sighed exasperatedly. He seemed to be able to tell that he wasn't going to get through to you about this matter. "I thought nee-chan wasn't the type to attack others like Reborn."

"As your nee-chan, I have the right to massacre whole countries if they hurt you," you tell the boy. Not that you actually would. It was too much of a hassle. Plus there would be a lot of cleaning up to do and you don't like cleaning up huge loads.

Tsuna sighed again, shaking his head with his hands on his hips. But when he looked up at you, he giggled. He hugged your leg with a happy smile. "Thank you nee-chan."

You smile a little. "Well, since we have the rest of today off, let's go get some ice cream!"

"Yay!"

* * *

You yawn as you step off the plane. It was so annoying that you had to return to Italy. You really just wanted to remain behind so that you could continue you self-appointed mission of slipping all of Tsuna's bullies food poisoning. But Vongola Nono was waiting for you and it would be a pain to land yourself on the Vongola's hit list, so here you were. You walk over to the waiting car and hop into the driver's seat, speeding away down the streets faster than what was probably allowed. But hey, if the cops can't catch up to you, or trail you for that matter, then who cares. You're mafia after all.

You regret that decision however, when you are parked outside of the Vongola mansion. You should have taken you time since you really don't want to be here. You can already feel more than one annoying aura shifting around somewhere inside.

You sigh, but step out of the vehicle. No use in stalling the inevitable.

You move purposely through the mansion, ignoring the stares and whispers that came with you presence in most areas of Europe. Your consolation is that Reborn had it way worse than you. Not only did he get the stares and whispers, but also those ugly whores that would practically threw themselves at him. Most men didn't want to flirt with a woman that was as strong, or stronger, than them so you at least didn't have to deal that sort of crap.

You sigh a little and stop walking. "Sure. Keep pointing that at me and maybe one day I'll actually be scared," you call out sarcastically. You turn around to face a small tanned, raven haired boy, pointing a 9 mm pistol at you. "And how are you Xanxus?"

"Tch. So you came back, trash," the child scoffed and stored away his weapon.

You shrug. "Had to happen eventually, brat. Your father pays well after all." You decide to ignore whatever else the brat has to say and continue toward your ultimate destination.

"So what job is it this time?" Xanxus demands, following you toward his father's office.

You grimace. "Don't you have lessons right now?"

"I'm Vongola Nono's son and the next Varia leader. I don't have to do anything."

You sigh again. What a cumbersome day. "Right. Well I have no clue, I was asked to meet up with Nono, so that's what I'm doing."

The two of you walk into the Don's office (after you knocked) and you took your position in front of the desk, while Xanxus threw himself onto the couch. You try not to sigh again, since you were really hoping that the kid would leave you alone.

"Good afternoon, Nono," you greet.

The old man nods with an amused glint in his eyes. "Thank you for coming. Would you like something to drink?"

You hold up a hand. "No thank you. Please just cut to the chase." It was your policy not to drink anything offered by other mafia families as it would be a hassle to make sure that it wasn't poisoned every single time.

Nono nodded, already expecting this. "Well, as I sent in that file, I would like you to consider the mission of accompanying Xanxus and his friend's-"

"They're not friend's, they're trash," the boy interjected.

But Nono continued as if he hadn't spoken. "To the given destination and back."

You're tempted groan and slap a hand over your eyes. "Nono, that sounds like a babysitting job. I'm an assassin, I don't watch over kids."

"Reborn and Iemitsu has told me that you have done an excellent job of watching over Giotto-kun and Tsunayoshi-kun."

You blink, digesting the Japanese suffix added into Italian dialect, but brush it off in favor of the whole message. "That was a favor for Reborn. Besides, there is not enough money in the world that could pay me enough to spend more than five minutes with all the brats gathered together."

"Ushishishi~"

A vein pops on your forehead at the sickeningly familiar laugh. 'Dear Lord. I think I deserve a refund for my life right about now.'

"Nono, you better tell me whatever else you have to say about that matter or anything else in the next 14 seconds or you're going to have to pay me to stay here on top of the fees that'll come with the destruction of your mansion," you inform the old man. "I don't need another literal royal pain in the ass today and I don't think you want to see how I deal with the two of them either."

"Ushishishi~ Flutter-chan has come back to play with the prince."

You resist the urge to slam your head into a wall repeatedly. This day just got a whole lot longer.


	11. Target 11

"Ushishishi." A little skinny boy wearing a tiara on the side of his head barged into the room. He immediately ran over to the chair next to you, jumped up, and started to pull on your cheeks.

'Somewhere, deep, deep, deep down in that cold black hole in your chest, there has to be some sort of positive human emotions. So you need to combine what little there is with the patience you built up for your profession and keep yourself from killing the little brats,' you instruct yourself. You've long since mastered the art of keeping an unemotional face in place, so that wasn't one of the issues. "Belphagor. I didn't think I would ever see you again. Why aren't you in your own country, terrorizing your own citizens and family? And while we're at it, where's your brother? Is he here too?"

"Ushishishi. I killed my family and everyone in the castle. I'm a member of the Varia now," the child informs you while still pulling and pinching your cheeks.

Okay. So only one brat from that country to deal with…That was a little better…right?

"VOOOOII!"

No. Not good enough.

"There you are, shitty boss!" A child with white hair, sort of sticking out around his head, brandishing a double edge sword came into the room along with a couple others.

You click your tongue and move Belphagor's hands away from your face so that you could speak 

properly. "Such foul language for one so young. Not to mention you seem to have gotten louder since the last time we met, Squalo."

"VOOOOII! So you're here as well shitty woman!" The white haired child waved his sword around dangerously as he yelled.

"Mou! Who is this?" One of the other children who entered asked. He had a red Mohawk and green bangs. He also had a very…flamboyant personality.

You had the urge to slap your face. The older kids were a couple years older than Giotto, yet they were already developing strange habits and personalities. What did kids watch on TV these days?

Nono chuckled and held a hand directed toward you. "This is-"

"Don't use that stupid nickname that idiota bionda gave me or I'll walk out of here right now," you threaten lightly before the man could utter the dreaded pet name. You can tell by his aura of amusement that that was exactly what he was going to use.

The old man laughed lightly again. He apparently decided that it would be in his and the other's best interest if he used the name he fed his adopted son and his other friends. "Then this is Elda."

Elda is an Old Italian form of the German name Hilda, meaning battle. Nono had thought of it during one of your first meeting with him and ended up using it when Xanxus had met you, meaning barged into the office during your meeting, and it had stuck ever since…Well, at least in the Vongola base.

"Elda is a freelance hit woman whom I call on a few time as she is a capable assassin," Nono continued. "You may know her better as the Mockingbird."

The flamboyant child squealed in delight. "So you're the cute little honey that's rumored to be able to work with that delicious hunk Reborn!"

Your eye twitches and you nearly shiver in disgust. There were so many things wrong with that sentence.

"Elda, these are also Xanxus's friends: Lusseria and Levi. They just joined us recently," Nono informed you.

Wait…Xanxus's friends…Babysitting job…Oh hell no! You turn back around to the old man with a full on glare. "Nono, I'm definitely not taking that job. One, maybe. Two, you're pressing your luck. Three, I'd rather shoot myself. But five. No way in the ever loving bloody bowls of hell. There's not enough money on earth that could persuade me to watch over these kids for a week."

Nono smiled. "Well…I might have something that would change your mind…"

Oh snap, that wasn't a good sign. You could feel dread dredging up in your stomach.

* * *

'You're not allowed to kill them. You're not allowed to kill them. You are not allowed to kill them.' You have now been chanting this to yourself for three and a half hours. If it weren't for the fact that your hard head would damage the interior or the windows of the vehicle you were stuck in, you would have been slamming your head against them right about now. You took out your gun and pointed its barrel at your head. Death would be better than this. No! No, no, no, no, no. You still had things to do…Maybe you could just slam the butt of the bun against your head repeatedly…

"VOOOOOII! Are we there yet?"

"Ushishishi. The prince is tired of driving. Speed up or die." Belphagor threatened the driver with a couple of knives.

Speaking of the driver. The poor man was nearly at the point of wetting himself. Not to mention the crazy, psychopathic, and dangerous kids in the back, he had to deal with your overwhelming aura of doom and destruction flowing out in suffocating waves from the passenger seat (You had refused point blank to sit in the back with the annoying brats).

You sigh and cut off your overflowing aura, focusing on an empty and peaceful mind. This was a good time to practice mediating, as Fēng was constantly nagging you to do. It's not like these were the worst subjects you've ever had to guard. You were just tired. Jet lag always made itself more evident when you were around extra loud little kids…that were perfectly capable and comfortable with killing…Maybe that's why you liked Tsunayoshi so much. There was such a pure and untainted aura to him. You had a feeling that even if he was brought into the heart of the mafia, the child would still be able to maintain that purity. It gave you a little hope for society, but also a sense of sorrow. That light was being overwhelmed and will be lost if Luce is unable to find a replacement for you.

The car slows to a stop and you open your eyes. It is only a small relief to see the mansion that you will be staying in for the next week. You are the first to exit the car and enter the mansion. You can sense that the kids are comfortable with entering the building as well if you were alright. By now all of them knew that you had a heightened awareness and could sense anyone with malicious intent from miles away.

"Trash," Xanxus calls out.

You don't answer. If that kid wants to talk to you, then he had to learn not to address you with such a title.

"Oi, woman."

You sigh silently and turn around to face the kid. "Is there something you need, child?"

The raven haired boy narrowed his eyes, disliking the title you have addressed him as. "I want steak tonight."

"Good for you, go tell the chefs," you say uncaringly with a wave of your hand and make to walk away.

"You make it," Xanxus demands.

"I may be female, but that don't cook kid. See you in the morning." With that you disappear in a shroud of mist.

* * *

Today was a rather productive day. You killed three assassins during breakfast; tortured four intruders before lunch; traumatized the kids a bit during lunch to stop them from stealing your food; took out a thirty man ambush during the afternoon outing; and killed another set of four assassins before dinner. Now you were sitting down at the far end of the table drinking a nice cup of French pressed coffee and reading a novel Fēng had recommended, having ditched the books that Colonello had suggested.

"Hey, El."

Well that was a new one. The boss brat was actually using the name you were going by. You place a bookmark to mark your place and close the book, placing it on the table before looking up. "Yes."

Xanxus gives you a hard, critical look. Hm. Must be important. "Be my mist guardian."

Or not.

You lace your fingers together and prop your chin on top, your elbows resting on the table. "I decline."

The boy continued to glare at you. "It wasn't a request."

You hummed a bit. "I can see that, but it wasn't an order I would follow anyways. I have no desire to be chained down to any one famiglia. Besides, you have no right to order me around. May I ask what brought this on?"

"Ushishishi. Flutter has a mist attribute," Bel informs you while twirling one of his knives.

You shrug. "Mist and sun. But I doubt you know what any of that really means." You stand up and start walking away with your book in hand. But you pause at the door and lean against the door frame when a sudden wave of pain hits you. You place a hand over an eye and grimace. An image of you lying on the ground bleeding from a wound in your abdomen flashes past your eyes, then suddenly the pain is gone again. You smirk a little. "What an interesting development."

"VOOOI! You sick or something!" Squalo shouts.

You turn your head to the side so that you can see the group through one eye and smirk again. "Nigh' night, kiddies."

You walk away thinking about what you saw. You had one other secret that not even Reborn knew; the ability to see your death.

* * *

The week was finally, finally over and you were heading out on your next mission. You decided that you would treat Tsunayoshi to whatever he wanted for being such an angel. Heck, the kid was a complete saint compared to the potential Varia brats. You had even been conned into becoming the mist guardian if they couldn't find one in the next decade. You had also witnessed a whole new level of devoted lackeys. How that Levi kid could stand for so much and still think Xanxus was like a god was beyond you. Not to mention how the stupid loudmouth still had a voice. It had taken every ounce of patience not to make the kid mute for the rest of his life. Then there was that Lusseria...thing. The boy had insisted that you treated him like a little sister, which was weird on it's own. But hey, you weren't one to judge. Actually, that part isn't what bothered you so much. It was the boy walking in while you were changing and going through all of your clothes (what assassin has a whole trunk full of laced and frilly undergarments). Then there was the literal royal pain in the ass who demanded all of your time and attention, only to choose games where he could throw knives at you. You get enough of that sort of thing from actual assassins, thank you very much. But that was all behind you now.

Now you have another mission to focus on. But this job has proven to be a difficult one. You may be an illusionist yourself, but the person you were chasing was a top class one with only one flame to focus on. You may have held having two flames over Reborn's head in the past, but both of you know that that also meant twice the amount of training. As such, you also could never be at the same level as Reborn with his sun flames or the illusionist you were chasing with their mist flames. But that doesn't mean you couldn't catch this person. You were a top class assassin and had enough experience in tracking the impossible down. The chase took you all over Europe and even a good portion of Asia, but you were eventually able to catch up to the person.

You huff a little and crouch down in front of the hooded person that was now tied to a tree. "You were a toughie. Mind just going along with me now? Or do we have to keep fighting."

The person clicked their tongue. "Caught by some no name assassin, how pathetic."

You prop your head on your palms with your elbows resting on your knees. "If it helps any, you can say that you were caught by the Mockingbird."

You can tell that the person is scowling at you, even though you can't see their eyes.

"Look, I'm not here to kill you. I was just told to track you down and make sure you aren't responsible for a few thefts, murders, and whatnot."

"Well I'm not!" The person snapped.

"Right. Then I'm also supposed to take you back to meet the person who hired me."

"Then you're in for a fight, because I'm not going anywhere with you."

You sigh. "Is it possible that I can pay you to come with me?"

"Money does nothing for me."

You fake a dramatic gasp with a hand over your heart, though you don't put in enough effort for a convincing expression too. "Why not! Money makes the world go 'round. No matter what happens, even after our death, so long as mankind goes on money will always hold a high value in living. You cannot live comfortably without the money to pay for all of the luxuries our kind provides."

"Yeah, and then you can go and be the richest person in the cemetery," the person replied sarcastically.

You shrug. "Think what you want, but I would rather die comfortably knowing that I can pay for all the amenities that I want rather than starving in a ditch."

"Why are you even telling me this?" The person asks exasperatedly.

You can tell that this is a rhetorical question and the person didn't really doesn't care for your answer, but you reply anyways. "Everyone needs something to live for. So why not live for earning a living? Besides, right now you're just floating through existence."

"I'm comfortable living the life I have right now," the person grumbles. "I'm a psychic and top class illusionist, why would I want anything as petty as pieces of paper with minimal value?"

"Because you're afraid of death, but can't think of a way to make your life worth anything more."

The person gapes at you.

You smile a little. "I'm not saying that you have to be a greedy money grubber, though that would be more amusing. It's more like I'm saying you should find an occupation and a group of people you want to live a full life for."

You untie the person and reach into your pocket, pulling out a wad of cash. You hand it to the person. "Here. Counting this should help pass the time while we head back. You can call me JJ."

You don't know why, but you feel like you're going to know this person for more than a few weeks. So you told them the temporary permanent name you were using back in Japan.

The person looks at you almost hesitantly. "Viper."


End file.
